I Will Not Bow Again
by TheSib
Summary: Rewrite of my fanfic, I Will Not Bow. Ren was a normal teen in the real world. All that changed however the day he logged into Sword Art Online. Will he give up and surrender to the death game? Or will he stand up and fight his way to freedom? I do not own SAO, just this story and the OCs. All other rights go to their respective owners.
1. Ren

**A/N: Hey everybody! This is a rewrite of my first fanfic, I Will Not Bow. This new version will include a third person perspective and new chapters to give readers a new look at the story. I hope you all enjoy the new I Will Not Bow. If this is your first time reading one of my fics, feel free to look up the original version of this story as well as it's sequel, Blazing Revolution.**

"Link start!"

The brown haired teen said those words and his vision went completely white. He entered his username and password and dived into a world that words could never describe. Today was the release of Sword Art Online, a revolution in gaming as it was the first VRMMO ever created. He had waited in line for what seemed like forever to get the popular game. He entered his avatar's appearance and entered his name as Ren. Without him knowing yet, entering this game would change his life more than he could ever imagine.

When Ren regained his vision, he found himself in a large town, with a brand new appearance. He had a red shirt under some leather armor, along with black pants. His hair was a crimson red color and was slightly longer than his real world hair. All over the streets, players were spawning into the town.

' _This is amazing'_ Ren thought as he looked around the town. Shops with various weapons and shields populated the streets. He had friends that had also gotten the game, but they weren't supposed to log on for another hour. He decided to exit the town and see what the fields were like.

The fields outside of the Town of Beginnings were just as incredible. Lush green hills populated the outside. Wild boar monsters grazed along the grassy plains. As he scanned the fields, he noticed two other players walking around. Ren hid behind a bush as he watched the pair battle against a boar. The first of the duo was a black haired guy with a blue shirt. The second was another male that had long red hair and a bandana wrapped around his head. The bandana guy was currently engaged in battle against one of the wild boars, and seemed to be losing.

' _Geez, how can you lose against something that weak?'_ Ren wondered _._ As he watched the battle, the bandana guy's sword suddenly became veiled in a bright light. He charged forward and slashed the boar with a powerful strike. The miniscule monster's health bar hit zero and it shattered into polygon fragments. As Ren gasped in shock of the sudden turn around, he lost his balance and fell out of the bush. The two players noticed him and walked over to Ren. "Who the heck are you?" the bandana player asked. "Were you spying on us?"

"Well… sort of." Ren admitted. "I wanted to learn some tricks on fighting in game."

Ren was worried the two players would get pissed and kill him, but surprisingly the black haired player reached out his hand towards Ren. "You know you could have just asked" he told Ren. "You wanna join us?"

"Yeah." Ren nodded as he accepted the player's hand and got to his feet. "Thanks." The two players introduced themselves. The black haired guy was one of the beta testers for SAO named Kirito and the one with the bandana was called Klein. "So what was that move just then?"

"It's a sword skill." Kirito explained.

"Sword skill." Ren reiterated. "Mind showing me how to do it?"

"Sure." Kirito nodded. He moved his body position and put the sword over his shoulder, pointing the blade behind him. "First, position your body like this."

Ren followed Kirito's lead, copying the pose the black haired player showed. As he stood there in the position, Ren's sword gave off an azure blue glow. He swung his sword forward along with his body and the feeling was incredible. The force of the slash could be felt even though it didn't hit anything.

"Woah." Ren said in awe of the move's power.

"I know right!" Klein agreed. "Isn't it so awesome?"

The trio of players continued to battle against boars and wolves while they practiced the sword skills available to them. Before they knew it, a few hours had passed and it was already late afternoon. The three players took a break and took in the sight.

"This is amazing." Ren said as they looked at the sun setting sky. "I never would have imagined something like this would be possible.

"Yeah." Klein nodded in agreement. "The guy who designed it is a genius."

"You don't need to be so overdramatic." Kirito chuckled.

"Cut us some slack man. It's our first dive." Klein argued.

"Yeah. You've dived plenty of times, so it doesn't seem as cool to you." Ren added.

"I guess you're right." Kirito admitted. "So you wanna move on?"

Ren was all set to keep going, but Klein's stomach answered for him. "Sorry guys, I gotta log out and get some food." Klein said.

"Alright then. See you later man." Ren said. He and Kirito were about to head out until something Klein said caught their attention.

"Huh? Where's the log out button?"

Ren laughed as he turned his head back towards Klein. "Are you serious man?"

"Seriously, the buttons not there!" Klein said.

Ren opened his menu to confirm what Klein had said. To his surprise, it was true. The log out button was missing. Looking over at Kirito, it seemed the same was also true for him.

"What the heck is going on?" Ren wondered aloud. Suddenly the echoing sound of a bell tolling was heard across the field. As the trio of players stood there confused, a blue light enveloped them and they were teleported. When they reappeared, they found themselves standing in the center of the Town of Beginnings they had left not long ago. Hundreds of other players were there as well, with dozens more teleporting in by the second. When the flashes of light around the square stopped, there must have been thousands of players there. Looking up into the sky, Ren saw a small notice floating.

System Announcement

Before Ren could even ask what was happening, the sky became coated with the messages, painting it the color of blood. A red ooze leaked from above, taking the form of a cloaked figure.

"Players, I welcome you to my world" the cloaked figure told the large mass of gamers. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, head programmer and developer of Sword Art Online." Several players gasped in shock at what the cloaked figure had just said. What came next however, would shock them a thousand times more. "I'm sure most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menus, the log out button. I assure you this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was originally designed.

"What?" Ren exclaimed. "What's he talking about?"

"As of this moment, you will not be able to log out of Sword Art Online. In addition, if anyone attempts to shut down or remove your Nerve Gear, the device will send an electric signal that will fry your brain, ending your life."

"No way?!" Klein gasped. "This has to be a joke, right?" Both Klein and Ren turned towards Kirito.

"It's true." The black haired player confirmed. "The inside of the Nerve Gear is built just like a microwave. Without the safety, it can easily kill you."

Kayaba continued his speech to the players. "Despite my warning, several people have already tried to remove the Nerve Gear. As a result, SAO now has two hundred and thirteen less players than before. I ask that you remember this next piece of info very well. There is no longer any way to revive someone, and if your HP hits zero, you will die in both the virtual and the real world."

At that moment, any sign of calmness remaining in Ren's face instantly vanished. _'Die? If my health hits zero, I'll actually die?!"_

"There is only one way to escape from Sword Art Online. You must clear the game. Currently you are all on floor one of Aincrad. Defeat the boss of this floor and you may advance onto floor two. If you defeat the boss on floor one hundred, you will beat Sword Art Online and be able to escape. Lastly, I've placed a little present in the item storage of all players. Please take a look."

Ren opened his menu and took a look at his items. Only one thing was present in it, a mirror. As Ren materialized the object and grasped it in his hand, a blinding light enveloped him and all the players there. When it dimmed down, Ren took a look at the mirror and couldn't believe his eyes. His avatar was gone, and his body from the real world had taken its place. Looking over at Klein, Kirito, and all the other players, Ren could guess the same had happened to them.

"You may be wondering right now, why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, do all this? Simply put, my goal was to achieve full control of a world of my design. As of right now, the tutorial has ended. Players, I wish you the best of luck." After saying those last few words, Kayaba disappeared into mist, leaving the ten thousand players there to have their new reality sink in.

As Ren stood there in the square, Kirito tapped him on the shoulder and signaled for him and Klein to follow him. He led them to the alleyways of the town. "Listen guys" Kirito said. "I'm heading to the next town. I want you to come with me. "

Klein and Ren stood there. It was true that they would be safer in a group. However, there was one problem.

"Sorry" Ren said. "I can't, I've got friends still there in the square. I can't just leave them."

"Yeah. I'm in the same boat." Klein added.

Kirito stood there, contemplating on what to do. Ren could tell what he was thinking. He couldn't help that many people. As it was, keeping the three of them alive would be a challenge while power leveling. Ren decided to speak up, to save Kirito from having to say it himself.

"Don't worry man." Ren assured the black haired player. "You get going. We'll be fine. With all the stuff you showed us, we can make it."

Kirito had a look of guilt on his face, but nodded. He ran off through the alleyway and headed towards the main gate.

"Well Klein, I'll be seeing you." Ren told the bandana wearing player.

"Yeah." Klein nodded. "You be careful."

Ren ran off towards the main gate, messaging his friends from the real world to meet him there. The two people Ren knew arrived quickly, both around the same age as the brown haired player. The first was a guy who's in game name was Helios. He had messy black hair and an axe strapped along his back. The second was a blonde guy named Riku. The two of them went to the same school as Ren and they had all been really excited for the release of the new game. Now however, that excitement was gone.

"Alright, let's get going." Ren told his two friends.

"You sure?" Riku asked. "It's pretty risky to go out there when we could die."

"It doesn't matter." Ren said. "We need to get stronger if we're gonna survive."

"He's right." Helios said. "Our only choice is to get stronger so we can beat this game."

With that, the trio left the gates of the Town of Beginnings, and stepped right into an adventure that would change not only their lives, but the lives of ten thousand people.

 **A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this story, though it was basically the same thing as the original's first chapter. I hope to get chapter 2 up as soon as possible. Please review and tell me what you think.**


	2. Alice

**A/N: Hey everybody! Happy to see you all liked the first chapter of I Will Not Bow Again so much (not sure why since it was basically the same as the original's first chapter, but I'm not complaining). This chapter will introduce everyone's favorite black haired female VR player. Hope you enjoy it. Please review.**

 **LilyCheyenne: Thanks. Dagger's intro chapter might not be for awhile since she joined the guild later, but I will try and get her in without skipping ahead too much. Everyone wants to see SAO's favorite merchant psycho.**

 **Guest: Happy to see you like it. To be completely honest, I kinda forgot about the fact that Ren and Riku were cousins (stupid me I know). I originally had him in there mostly as comic relief, which changed later as you have probably seen in the tournament arc of Blazing Revolution. And I don't take what you said as an insult at all. I completely agree that the original version of this story wasn't very well written out since it was my first fanfic ever. That's why I decided to do this rewrite. Hope this story can live up to your expectations.**

Two weeks had passed since the beginning of Sword Art Online. By now, players had finally begun to venture outside of the Town of Beginnings. For the first few days, most people secluded themselves in the small town, not wanting to step out into the dangerous fields where your health could fall. But as time progressed, more and more players began to realize that the only way to survive this game was to get stronger.

Out in the fields outside of Horunka, one group of players were doing just that. The small party consisted of only five people. They walked through the fields, slowly defeating mobs and gaining xp.

"Yeah! This is easy!" one of the players, a blonde male cheered. "These weaklings ain't got nothing on us!"

"Calm down Noboru. We can't go around acting rashly" another member of the party, this one a brunette, reminded her friend.

"Oh please, with my awesome strength we've got nothing to worry about Olivia" the blonde guy named Noboru replied. "Now let's get going! We've got more losers to stomp!"

"Hold it Noboru" another member of the group called out. This one was a girl with long flowing black hair and a katana strapped to her waist. "Let's take a quick break. Mai's getting tired."

"Don't *huff* worry about me. I'm *huff* fine" the young girl referred to as Mai told the group. It was easy to see exhaustion was starting to take over for her, even though her health was still green.

"No, Alice is right." Olivia agreed. "We should rest for a bit."

"Fine" Noboru sighed. "Let's sit down and-" The rest of the sentence died on his tongue as he looked over across from them. A golden slime was wandering around with nothing else around it. "Guys look! A golden slime! I bet that's worth a ton of xp!"

The group of players looked over at the enemy. It hadn't noticed them, and just seemed to be wandering around. Killing it with the five of them would be simple.

"Hold on a second." Mai said. "I remember seeing that thing in the guidebook somewhere before. If I remember correctly, it said that thing was really dangerous and we shouldn't attack it."

"It's one monster. How dangerous could it be? We can take it. Right Jean?"

"I'm with Mai on this one" the fifth player, known as Jean, told Noboru.

"Same here" Olivia said. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

"You guys are a bunch of wussies" Noboru grinned. "Watch this!" He kicked off the ground and charged at the lone monster.

"Noboru stop! Don't do it!" Olivia called out, but it was too late. Noboru ignored his friends and slashed the golden slime with his large two-handed sword. The monster stumbled back a bit with its health decreasing by a small amount.

"See? Nothing to it. Now to finish this sucker and-"

The blonde teen was cut off as an ear-piercing shriek came from the golden slime he had just attacked. The five players covered their ears to try and block out the noise. After a few seconds, the deafening scream died down. However, a much worse problem soon occurred.

"Incoming!" Alice exclaimed, pointing into the distance. A huge horde of monsters began charging towards where they were.

"Quick, run!" Olivia yelled, turning around. She soon stopped in her tracks however as monsters began coming from that side as well. Looking all around them, monsters could be seen coming from all directions.

"Noboru, the teleport crystals!" Alice called out, but as she turned to the blonde teen she saw him disappear in a flash of light from the use of a crystal.

"A-Alice… I'm scared." Mai said, trembling next to the black haired teen.

The four remaining players in the group pulled out their weapons and prepared for a battle to the death with the large horde of enemies. A battle they had no chance of winning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright! Time for lunch!" Helios grinned as he stretched his arms. The ashy black haired teen sat down on the grass with Ren and Riku. The three of them pulled out some bread they had bought in town this morning and began eating.

In the two weeks that had passed by since Sword Art Online began, the trio of friends had raised their levels to around 15. After Ren had taught Riku and Helios the basics of the game which he had learned from Kirito, the three of them had done quite well in dealing with mobs. Helios used a battle axe he had bought in one of the first few towns and wore some light-weight metal armor. Riku had a dagger at his waist and wore a dark green cloak that allowed him to improve his hiding skill by a bit so he could sneak up on monsters and take them out with a deadly blow. Ren wore some leather armor over his red shirt and had his one-handed sword sheathed onto his back.

"Things are going pretty well" Riku said as he took a bite of his food. "If we keep this up, we should be able to take the floor boss no problem.

"First we need to FIND the floor boss" Helios pointed out.

"Good thing we can rely on you to point out the obvious."

"Good thing we can rely on you to never notice the obvious."

Ren ate his lunch as he listened to his two party members go at it. Things had always been like this for them. Helios was cocky and annoying at times, but he was a loyal friend. Riku seemed weak at times, but his skills as an assassin type player were top notch. Ren was there to keep the two of them in check and guide the group through battles. At a glance you wouldn't be able to guess it, but the three of them had been friends for a long time.

"There hasn't been a lot of monsters around here" Helios pointed out. "There's usually a few more than what we've run into."

"Now that you mention it, you're right" Ren agreed. "I wonder what-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The sudden scream caused all three of the teens to jump to their feet. "What was that?!" Riku questioned.

The three players ran towards where they heard the scream coming from. They arrived at a nearby cliff and found out the cause of the scream. A group of three were fighting a gigantic group of monsters. There were slimes, boars, plants, pretty much every type of monster a player could find in the area. The monsters had the group of three completely surrounded. The three players would only last another few minutes at this rate before their HP hit zero.

"This is bad! We got help them!" Helios exclaimed.

"No shit Sherlock!" Riku shouted.

"Keep digging Watson." Helios countered.

"This is getting us nowhere. Right now, we need to help them. Right Ren?" Riku said, turning towards the party leader. But Ren wasn't there. While the two of them had been having their love/hate relationship, Ren had already begun leaping down the cliff ledge by ledge.

"Ren?! Geez, wait up you idiot!" Helios called out as he and Riku began descending the cliff as well. The team of three raced towards the giant mob as they hit the ground. As they ran over, Ren saw a burst of several polygons, signaling that one of the three players fighting the mob had died. The brown haired teen cursed under his breath as he increased his running speed even further.

"You guys deal with the outer wall! I'll cut a path through and help the ones in the center!" Ren commanded. Helios and Riku nodded and Ren sped at the mob with his sword unsheathed. His blade gave a crimson glow as he charged through the mob with the sword skill Vorpal Strike. He burst through the monsters and skidded to a halt once he reached the center where the other two girls were.

The first was a girl that looked about 15 years old. She had long flowing black hair and scarlet red eyes. She was equipped with a leather breastplate and shoulder pads that covered a red shirt she was wearing that had a black miniskirt at the end. A katana was gripped in her hands. The other player was also a girl, though she seemed a few years younger than the black haired one. She had brunette hair, wore a light-blue dress, and had a rapier type sword in hand.

The monsters in the mob had a stun reaction to the arrival of a new player. Ren took the opportunity to get a handle on the situation. "Are you two alright?!"

The black haired girl snapped out of her surprise and gave a slight nod. "Yeah. Our health isn't red yet, but we won't last much longer."

Ren looked over to where I came through. Flashes of light from Helios and Riku's attacks could be seen. That would be their best target.

"Listen closely. We need to all aim for that spot over there" Ren told the two girls. "Once we break through, run with everything you've got."

The two girls nodded. Ren swatted away a monster that lunged at him and gave the command. "GO!" The three players charged at the spot Ren pointed to and each attacked with a sword skill. "Riku! Helios! Move!" The two of them jumped back as Ren and the two girls exploded through the mob wall. Once they broke through, the five players kicked the ground and sprinted away at full speed. They kept running and running, not stopping until they reached a safe zone in the fields ten minutes later.

Ren collapsed onto the ground along with the others as they tried to catch their breath. "Is *huff* everyone ok?"

"Yeah" the black haired girl nodded. "We're good"

"Same here" Helios added.

"Good" Ren said, laying down on the grassy plains. He quickly remembered to open up his menu and pull out a couple of health potions. He tossed them over to the two girls. "Here. Use these"

"Thanks" the black haired girl said as she caught the potions and passed one over to her friend before gulping down one herself.

"So do you mind telling us what the hell happened back there?" Helios questioned. "Where did that huge swarm of monsters come from?"

The two girls looked at each other with depressed looks on their faces. The young brunette of the duo began explaining. "We had formed a party with some of our friends from the real world. While we were out in the fields we found a rare monster. I remembered the guidebook saying that it was really dangerous, but one of our party members… he attacked it and..." The young girl tried to go on, but ended up crying into the other girl's shirt from the horrific experience. The black haired girl continued in her place.

"One of our friends, a guy named Noboru, attacked the monster even though the rest of us felt it was too risky. Once he attacked, it let out a screech and before we knew it, we were swarmed with enemies. Noboru was carrying our teleport crystals, but he used one to save himself before giving out the rest to us. The only ones who survived that fight were the two of us."

Ren and his friends held their heads down. For two people to go through all that, it was horrible. They knew they couldn't just leave them like this.

"It's pretty dangerous for you two to walk back to town alone" Ren said. "We don't have enough teleport crystals for all five of us, so we'll help you back on foot."

"Seriously?! You'd really do that for us?!" the black haired girl exclaimed.

"Thank you so much!" the rapier girl added.

After the two girls accepted Ren's party invitation request, they all introduce ourselves. The black haired girl was called Alice. The brunette was Mai, her younger sister.

The group of five ran into a few small mobs on the way back to town. Dealing with them was surprisingly simple. Alice and Mai each had decent combat skills and were easily able to deal with small monsters on their own. Combined with Ren, Helios, and Riku's high stats, the group of five made a strong team.

After making it back to town, Ren and the others walked into the town square. Suddenly, another player came running over to them. "Alice! Mai! Thank god you're ok!"

The group of five looked over to see the blonde player running towards them. Ren looked over at Alice. "Do you know him?"

Alice had a look of rage on her face for a moment, but it was soon replaced with an innocent smile. "He's no one. Just an old friend. Give me a second to catch up with him." Alice began to walk over to the blonde player running towards her.

"Alice, I'm so glad you're-"

BAM!

The blonde male didn't get the opportunity to finish his sentence as Alice suddenly swung her fist full force at the player. The impact sent him flying back into the fountain in the square.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Alice yelled at him. "NOBORU YOU BASTARD! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOUR COWARDLY STUPIDITY DID?! JEAN AND OLIVIA DIED BECAUSE OF YOU! MAI AND I ALMOST JOINED THEM!"

Ren and the others watched in shock at the look of rage that returned to Alice's face. The blonde male slowly tried to get to his feet, but tripped over. Alice grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Alice, I-I'm sorry! I-I just-"

Alice didn't let him finish as she took another swing at Noboru and sent him crashing into the side of a building. Alice walked over to him once again. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!"

"I'm sorry! I'll do anything!" Noboru exclaimed, begging for his life. Alice once again grabbed him by his collar and glared at him.

"Never talk to me or my sister again, got it?!"

Noboru nodded his head and Alice tossed him to the side. The blonde haired male quickly got to his feet and ran away. As everyone watched Noboru run away, Alice waked back over to Ren and the others. "Sorry you guys had to see that. My anger got the best of me."

"Don't be sorry" Ren told her. "You had every right to be angry at him"

"Yeah. I would have hit him even harder if I were you" Helios added.

"Thanks again for helping us out and bringing us back to town." Alice said. "I guess we'll be going now."

Ren, Helios, and Riku watched as Alice and Mai walked off. As he watched the two girls walk away, Ren called out to them without even thinking. "Wait!"

Alice and Mai turned back towards Ren. "What is it?"

"Well… you two don't know anyone else in SAO right?"

"Yeah"

"So why don't you join up with us?" Ren offered.

Alice and Mai seemed shocked by the offer. The two sisters looked at each other before turning back to the three male players. "Are you sure?"

"Sure. You two can obviously handle yourselves in a fight, and it's safer with more people."

Alice's face turned to a heartfelt smile. "Ok then. I guess we're a team now."

"Yeah! Thanks for having us!" Mai added with an ecstatic cheer.

With that the group of five was born and ready to take on all the challenges SAO had to offer.

 **A/N: Well that's chapter 2 everybody. Sorry it was another repeat chapter, but I promise chapter 3 will be completely new stuff. Since it will be new content however, it will take a lot longer to create and upload. I will try my best to get it out as soon as possible.**


	3. Tactics And Information

**A/N: Hello fans of SAO! Here is chapter 3 of the new I Will Not Bow. I would like to say now that this chapter will involve a couple characters from the Progressive light novel. I hope you enjoy it. Please review.**

Ren leaned against the town gate with the sun still rising in the morning sky. A loaf of bread was in his hand, acting as his breakfast. It was still fairly early, so he wasn't expecting the others for about another half hour. He liked to use this time in the morning to think to himself.

A few days ago, Floor 1 of Aincrad had been cleared. Ren and his party had joined the raid to take on the first floor boss Illfang the Kobold Lord. Several players had died in the fight, including the player that had brought everyone together for the raid, Diavel.

' _It took us a month just to clear Floor 1'_ Ren thought to himself. _'How long will it take us to clear the others?'_

As Ren thought to himself, a hand tapped him on the back. Ren jumped back from the sudden appearance only to see that the player was Alice. Her long black hair flowed through the morning breeze as she giggled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you"

Ren gave a sigh of relief that it was only Alice and went back to eating his bread. "It's ok. You just caught me off guard." The teen leaned back against the town gate, this time sitting down on the grass as well. Alice took a seat next to him.

"So, whatcha doing?" Alice asked.

"Not much. Just… thinking about stuff"

"I see…" Alice said as she gazed up at the sky. "It's so weird. You'd never guess this was a virtual world just by looking at it. Everything seems so real"

"You're right" Ren nodded. Suddenly he noticed something. "Where's Mai? Isn't she with you?"

"Oh she went to get something for breakfast" Alice explained. "She'll be here in a minute"

"It's weird to not see her with you. You two are almost always together"

Alice nodded with a faint smile on her face. "Yeah. Maybe I'm being a bit overprotective of her. I'm just scared of… losing her. Just like my friends"

Ren looked at Alice. She was trying to smile, but it was easy to see the grim feeling she had about her friends dying. It only made sense that she would be so overprotective of Mai. He gave a reassuring smile to the black haired girl. "Don't worry. Mai isn't going to die. None of us will. I'll make sure of it"

Alice looked at Ren with mild surprise. "Ren… how can you be so sure?"

"How?" Ren questioned. He put his hand to his chin for a moment to think of an answer. "I don't know really. Call it a gut feeling"

"A gut feeling?" Alice asked. She soon chuckled a bit. "Geez, all that confidence over a gut feeling"

"Well I do know one thing." Ren said. "I'll be sure to protect all of you guys, even at the cost of my own life. That much I can promise for sure"

"R-Ren…" Alice gasped with a slight blush on her cheeks. Suddenly, Ren realized the hidden innuendo that could be formed through his words.

"N-No no, wait! I didn't mean it like that!"

"Oh, what do we have here?" Mai asked as she walked up to Ren and Alice with a bag of food in her hand. "You wanted some alone time with Ren, Alice? Is that why you asked me to go get breakfast"

"Wh-What?!" Alice exclaimed, blushing even more now. "O-Of course not! We were just talking!"

"Sure you were" Mai said with a giggle. "Ren and Alice, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-"

"Shut up! Come here you!" Alice growled as she lunged at her sister, getting Mai into a playful headlock before she could finish.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" Mai laughed as she tried to break free.

"You better be" Alice told her, though she couldn't help but smile. The black haired girl reached into the bag of food and pulled out two pieces of bread. She took one for herself while handing the other one to Ren. "Here you go"

"Hey! That was my piece!" Mai argued.

"Punishment for teasing me" Alice grinned. She saw Mai puff her cheeks with a pout and giggled at her sister. "Alright, here you go miss crybaby"

"Hehe" Mai giggled as she caught the bread in her hands and began eating. "Mmmmm, this is so good. Much better than the bread on the first floor."

The three teammates chatted together as they ate breakfast. Soon, Helios and Riku showed up at the gate to meet up with the others. Ren got up and addressed the group.

"Alright, today we're supposed to help out with the field boss giving the main parties trouble" Ren explained.

"You mean Kibao and his gang of idiots? Those guys can't do anything right" Helios sighed as he rolled his eyes.

Ren and his party walked into the fields and made their way to where the field boss was supposed to be. Several other parties were gathered in the area. They stood on a cliff above where the boss was. The team of five looked down below to see the boss, a giant sized bull with a nose piercing, rampaging around the field. Two health bars were seen floating above its cursor where the name Furious Horn could be seen. In addition, wasp monsters were spawning all around the area near the bull.

"THAT'S what you guys have been losing to?" Helios asked, laughing as he pointed at the boss. "It's nothing but an oversized cow and a bunch of insects!"

"That oversized cow nearly killed us a few times. Don't underestimate it" Kibao told the axe-wielder. "Plus we've got those Wind Wasps that keep spawning around it to deal with"

"Look, just leave that thing to us" Helios said with a puff of his chest. "We'll have this thing taken care of in five minutes. Seven minutes tops. You can go deal with the cannon fodder."

"Let's make this clear!" Kibao growled, grabbing Helios by the collar of his shirt. "We, the Aincrad Liberation Force, will be the ones to attack the boss. Your job is to keep the minions away from us"

Helios chuckled at Kibao's show of strength. He quickly got out of Kibao's grip and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, holding him over the edge of the cliff with only the boss and his minions to greet Kibao if Helios decided to let go. "I'm sorry, did you just try to sound threatening to me AND give me orders? Cause that would be a big mistake."

"The hell?! Let me go you asshole!" Kibao yelled as he flailed around like a little kid. Several players gave quiet chuckles at the sight of the self-proclaimed leader of the assault team in peril.

Helios threw Kibao back to the rest of his party. Before the axe-wielder could follow up, Ren blocked Helios with his arm. "That's enough. We don't need you picking fights Helios"

The axe-wielder rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Fine, whatever you say. I'll let him off with a warning this time"

Ren took notice of another player sitting around near the cliffs. A female player with a red hood and a rapier at her waist. Long chestnut hair flowed out from her hood. "Hey Asuna! How's it going?"

Asuna turned to Ren and gave a cheerful smile. "Hey Ren. Haven't seen you since the boss raid."

"So where's Kirito?" Alice asked as she scanned the area for the black haired swordsman. "Weren't you two a party?"

"I haven't seen him since the boss raid" Asuna shrugged. "Besides, we're both solo players. We teamed up for a one-time thing"

After the first floor boss fight, Kirito had been labeled as a beater, along with most of the other known beta testers for SAO. Ren and the others saw through his façade however and knew he was just protecting the other beta testers. He had left the assault team and hadn't been heard or seen from since.

"So you don't know where he is?" Ren asked.

"Well actually I do" Asuna grinned. She picked up a pebble and threw it at a nearby tree. A player soon fell into a bush from the tree where Asuna had thrown the pebble.

"Ow! Damnit Asuna, what was that for?!" a voice asked from the bush. Asuna walked up to the bush and reached inside it, dragging out Kirito by the back of his collar. Many players gasped in shock at the sudden appearance of the beater. "How did you know I was there? I was using my hiding skill"

"I guess you didn't level it up enough" Asuna smirked proudly. "And since you came all the way out here, you can party up with me again. I need help collecting materials anyway"

"Hold on!" another party leader, this one a blue haired male named Lind, called out. "There's no way we can allow someone like him in the raid group! He's a beater!"

"You don't have to worry. He'll just stick to clearing the wasps with me." Asuna explained. "That is, as long as you guys can do your job correctly"

Lind and Kibao scowled at Asuna while Helios snickered at the insult she threw at them. Ren decided to step forward to defuse the tension. "Look, as long as everything goes well there shouldn't be any problems. Kibao and Lind's parties will attack the boss while the rest of us keep the wasps away from them."

Kibao and Lind stood there, wanting to say more, but decided against it as they walked away and went back to their parties. Kirito rolled his eyes at the two leaders. "You know they're going to screw up, right?"

Ren nodded at his friend. "Yeah, but for now let's just let them have their way. If things get bad, we'll step in and deal with the boss."

Kirito simply shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. I guess we'll just have to do our best with the minions."

Everyone got together and formed up for the assault on the boss. They waited till the Furious Horn was facing away from them, and Lind gave the signal.

"Attack!"

All at once, players scaled down the cliff towards the field where the boss was roaming around. Lind and Kibao's group charged towards the giant bull with their weapons drawn. Ren and the others ran towards the wasps buzzing around. Asuna was the first to make a move, charging forward with a thrust from her rapier. She zoomed past several minion wasps, shattering them all with blinding speed. She turned to the others with a confident grin. "How was that? Think you can keep up with-"

Asuna was interrupted as Kirito slashed at an enemy right behind Asuna. The polygon fragments flew by her as she realized how close the monster must have been to her. She didn't look at his face, but she could tell Kirito was now wearing the same smirk she had just had a few seconds ago.

"You shouldn't let your guard down Asuna. It might get you killed."

"Then I guess I'll just have to kill all of the wasps before I monologue again" Asuna shrugged while grinning. The party of two kicked off the ground and began attack wasps around them at incredible speed.

Ren gave a grin as he watched the duo kill wasp after wasp. He turned to his party. "We can't let them outdo us. Let's take these things down guys!"

"Right!" the four of them said with a collective nod. The group split up and began taking out the minions as well. Ren saw a line of wasps flying towards him. He charged forward with the sword skill Vorpal Strike, and took all of them out at once. As he was stuck in the skill delay though, he saw a wasp charge towards him with its stinger ready to strike. Before it could do any damage however, Alice appeared and cleaved the insect monster in half with her katana. Helios swung his body around with a violent slash of his axe, sending several wasps flying back and making them shatter into fragments. Riku nimbly dodged the wasp stingers coming for him as he slashed the insects with his dagger and took several other ones out with his throwing knives. Mai attacked the monsters with several quick stabs from her rapier to make up for her weapon's lack of attack power.

"Geez. This is such a drag" Helios groaned as he took out yet another wasp. "These things don't even put up a fight."

Ren slashed a wasp in front of him and looked over towards the boss. Despite the obvious flaws in their formation, Kibao and Lind's group was doing a decent job at lowering the boss's health. If this kept up, things would go smoothly and the assault team could get back on track to finding the boss room. Ren turned back his focus on the wasps.

Suddenly a shout came from over by the boss as players began to stumble back. "Wh-What the hell?! What's going on with the boss?!"

Ren turned back towards the boss he had just looked away from a few moments ago. Its health had fallen to half of its last HP bar. The bull slowly seemed to be charging up energy. Its skin also began to turn into a bloody red color.

' _Crap!'_ Ren silently thought. Whatever the boss was doing, it wasn't good.

"Get out of there guys!" Kirito warned. "It's going berserk!"

Kibao glared over towards Kirito. "Why the hell should we listen to you?! You probably just want to steal the last attack bonus for yourself like you did with Illfang!"

Lind nodded in agreement. "He's right! We can handle this so mind your own damn business!"

Ren groaned as he could easily tell this wasn't going to end well. His suspicions were proven right as the boss let out a powerful cry and charged at its targets. The players foolish enough to attempt to overpower the bull in its angered state found themselves blown away. The rest began to turn tail and run.

"It's too powerful!"

"We can't beat it!"

"Run for your lives!"

Kibao and Lind slowly backed away from the boss as it glared at them. As they took another step back, they both tripped on a fallen log and fell over. The boss let out a cry and began to charge at them. The eyes of the duo widened in fear, but soon found themselves surprised as Ren and his group, along with Kirito and Asuna, stepped forward towards the boss.

"What are you doing?! That thing's too powerful!" Lind yelled at them.

Ren held up his hand, signaling for Lind to keep his mouth shut. He quickly gave out commands to his team. "Alice, Riku, go for its legs."

Alice and Riku nodded as they dashed forward. They ran past the enraged boss and slashed both legs on its left side with sword skills. Having its legs damaged, the boss flinched in pain and began to tumble over. Ren looked towards the next person in the attack. "Helios"

"Already on it!" the axe-wielder grinned as he charged forward. His axe lit up with a green light as he swung it up with all his might. The broad weapon smashed into the bull's head as it was falling over and sent it flying back a bit. The boss crashed onto the ground with a painful thud, which shaved off even more of its HP. Kibao and Lind looked on in shock. Mai and Asuna were next as the two of them ran at the boss in its weakened state. Their blades lit up as they each struck the boss with a lightning quick thrust. The boss's health fell even lower from the attack, finally stopping at the last sliver of health.

Kirito readied his weapon as he prepared to go in for the finishing blow. "You ready Ren?"

"Of course" Ren grinned back as he readied himself as well. The two swordsmen dashed forward towards the boss as it tried to get back on its feet. Both of their swords lit up as they both activated the sword skill Vertical. The two simultaneous slashes ripped through the boss and took out what little HP it had left. The giant bull that had given the assault team so much trouble shattered into fragments. Ren and the others turned and looked towards Kibao and Lind with grins on their faces.

"So… too powerful for us, eh?" Ren questioned.

"Th-There's no way... How did you do that?" Kibao exclaimed.

Ren shrugged his shoulders. "It's not that complicated really. You guys were fighting the boss like this was a normal game, but it isn't. Instead of focusing simply on how to lower a monster's HP, you should try to think outside the box."

Kibao and Lind looked at the teen, not really getting what he meant. Kirito sighed and went on. "Look at it this way. The best way to take down a larger enemy is to get it off balance. By slashing the legs, Alice and Riku did just that. Afterwards, all we needed to do was go in for an all-out assault while it was stunned."

Helios stretched his arms as he put his axe away. "Well, I think that should do for helping you losers out. Next time you ask for our help, make sure it's something that can put up a fight."

XXXXXXXXXX

With their day of fighting in the fields over, Ren and the others headed back to town to recover from the fight against the Furious Horn. The xp they had acquired had been quite a lot for helping defeat the boss itself, along with a few decent items. Ren walked through the streets of the town alone as night darkened the sky. As he turned a corner in the street, a sudden voice came out of nowhere.

"I see you've been putting my info to good use."

Ren turned around to see a blonde girl standing next to him with a big grin on her face. She wore light weighted brown clothing, including a cloak of the same color. Her eyes were a dusty yellow and she had red whiskers painted on her face. Ren gave a sigh of relief that it wasn't some stranger that had come to ambush him. "What do you want Argo?"

"Now that's not how you talk to a friend, is it?" Ago asked.

"Then stop popping up out of nowhere when you want to talk"

Argo chuckled a bit. "Well I can't have people noticing me in public. After all, beta testers like me aren't exactly popular."

"Fair enough" Ren sighed. "Thanks for the info you've been giving me by the way. Helped us out today"

"I heard. I gotta say though, I'm surprised you finished and memorized the updated guidebook I gave you already. It's only been like a couple days."

"It's my job as a leader" Ren said. "I need to do whatever I can to protect my friends. The info the guidebook has is one of the best ways to know what to expect in the fields. I heard you've mostly been giving these out exclusively to beta testers though. So why include me?"

"What can I say? You're one of the few people that isn't a jerk to us beta testers. Think of it as a thank you."

"Well it has helped us quite a lot so thanks."

"You know… I can give you other kinds of info besides stuff for grinding in the fields." Argo said with a smirk.

"Like what?" Ren asked, wondering where she was going with this.

"Alice's bust size for instance"

"Alright, we're done here!" Ren declared, walking away with his face blushing while Argo laughed in response.

 **A/N: Ah the RenXAlice shipping happening already (I'm not good with shipping names if that hasn't already been shown). I will try to get the next chapter out within a week, but no promises. Also, if you haven't already checked it out, I have posted songs for themes for each of the members of Wyvern Inferno. Take a look if you haven't already.**


	4. The Rip-off Merchant

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter has taken so long to get out. School and other fics have kept me pretty busy. To make it up to you guys though, I made sure for this chapter to be one I'm sure you guys will love.**

 **Also, there have been a few people have asked me whether they should stick to reading this or go read the original I Will Not Bow. I would suggest going to read the original for two reasons. One, it will allow you to get to reading Blazing Revolution faster. Second, I don't know how often I will be able to update this story. Blazing Revolution might be finished before I'm done with this rewrite for all I know. Just don't expect the same quality writing from the original compared to what you've seen in this version since I Will Not Bow was my very first attempt at a fanfic.**

 **Regardless of what you decide to do, I hope you enjoy the story.**

The Town of Beginnings used to be a dark and gloomy place filled with nothing but despair. The only people that used to roam the streets were those that would go out in the fields to train. Everyone else shut themselves inside a room at the inn and slowly lost their sanity. A few had even took drastic measures and committed suicide.

Now that was different. While the only players that lived in the Town of Beginnings nowadays were the weaker players of the game that didn't have the courage to fight anything other than the boars right outside of town, there was still plenty of cheer in the air. There were still players that were too scared to leave the safety of the town, but they found ways to get by. Barely anyone from the front lines, which was currently at Floor 8, ever came down here. A few people from the upper floors would come down every so often to check up on the people here. One of those groups was the Aincrad Liberation Group, a guild that focused on spreading information and goods to players all across town.

Some of those in the town however had other reasons for being here.

"Get your prime grade weapons and armor here people! There's equipment here that you can only get on the upper floors! Get 'em before they're gone!"

One female player sat in the town square with a mat in front of her, showing off weapons that most of the newbie players had never seen before. They all gazed at the weapons and armor she had lined up with looks of awe.

The girl in question was a girl who seemed to be around fifteen. She had red hair tied up in a ponytail. Her armor wasn't anything special, just some red lightweight leather armor with shoulder pads. Her eyes were a light blue color. She wore a hooded cloak over her armor that also concealed the shortsword sheathed at her waist.

"Wow, this is incredible!" one player exclaimed as he examined one of the swords there. "I've never seen a blade like this in any of the NPC shops."

"That's because every single one of these are rare monster drops" the merchant girl said with a seemingly innocent smile. _'Well maybe not rare, but what they don't know won't hurt them'_

In truth, all of the stuff she had on the mat were easy to get items if you simply hunted in the fields around Floors 5 through 7. She could easily find all of these in a few hours of hunting. The players down here however were completely oblivious to this unfortunately since the riskiest thing they had done was fight a boar outside the Town of Beginnings.

"Dagger, you've outdone yourself this time!" another player exclaimed. "How much for this sword here?"

Dagger grabbed the weapon the man was looking at and examined it. "Ah yes, this beauty. Had to fight one pretty tough monster to get this. Let's say about… 5,000 col"

"5,000! That's crazy!" he gasped. "I go bankrupt if I bought this!"

"But you could easily make it back with the help that sword will give you. A slash from that, and those boars outside the town will pop faster than a pinata at a birthday party"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive" Dagger smiled. Of course she was sure. Anyone with a half decent weapon from the upper floors could one-shot the weak monsters found outside the town. But she decided to keep that part of the info to herself. It would be pretty bad for business if they knew they were getting ripped off.

"Hmm… alright then. If you say so" the player said, opening up a trade window. He received the item and 5,000 col was instantly transferred over to Dagger.

"Thanks! Come again!" Dagger grinned as she waved goodbye to the player. _'Sucker'_

Parting with that sword didn't bother her at all. It was a common drop from the field monsters right outside the town on Floor 6. She had a ton in her inventory. Selling one to the NPC shops however would only give her a few hundred col. Down here, she could scam people and make far more cash selling them.

' _I love this town'_ Dagger thought to herself as she continued selling weapons and other various items throughout the day. By the time it came for her to close up shop, Dagger had made a small fortune. She packed up her stuff and headed to the teleport gate. As she walked through one of the streets to get to her destination, she heard a sudden cry.

"Mina! Mina, where are you?!"

Dagger looked over to see a female player that seemed to be in her twenties with short light brown hair and green eyes. She wore a simple blue dress and had glasses over her eyes. She kept calling out the same name over and over. "Mina! Mina, are you here?!"

"Excuse me ma'am" Dagger said as she walked up to the woman. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes there is" the woman nodded. "My name's Sasha and I run the church here and look after the kids in town. One of them went out earlier today and hasn't come back. I'm worried something happened to her."

"Leave it to me ma'am! I'll find her for you!" Dagger said with a puff of her chest.

"You will?! Oh thank you! You have no idea how much help this is!"

"Don't mention it. Now what does this person look like?"

"She's a ten year old girl named Mina. She's about three and a half feet tall, has short brunette hair, and blue eyes."

Dagger took a moment to create a mental picture of the girl in her head. "Alright. I'll start searching right away."

"Thank you again. I'm truly grateful." Sasha said with an appreciative bow.

Dagger took off, looking for the missing girl. She ran into an alleyway and skillfully kicked off the side walls until she reached the roof of one of the buildings. Missing person cases like this were rare, but no doubt she'd be rewarded handsomely if she found this Mina girl. _'Alright, now where to start looking?'_

The red haired merchant scoured the city as she looked for a lead. She asked random players on the streets if they had seen anyone matching Mina's description. After a full hour of searching, she had come up with nothing. Driven to desperation, she decided to play her trump card. She opened her menu and contacted a friend of hers, telling them to meet her at the teleport gate in the Town of Beginnings. A few minutes after she arrived, her friend appeared wearing a muddy brown cloak. "What is it Dagger? It's not like you to call me out of nowhere like this"

"Nice to see you too, Argo" Dagger said with a sarcastic smile. "I'm looking for someone. A missing girl to be precise."

"A girl?" Argo questioned. "How old would she happen to be?"

"The client said about ten or so"

"I'm not sure you want to get involved with this, Dagger" Argo told her. "I think I've got a good idea where she is and trust me, you do not want to go there"

"Where is it?" Dagger asked.

Argo sighed as she continued. "Have you heard the rumors going around about the sexual harassers going around the town here?"

Dagger nodded her head. "I've heard a few tidbits about them here and there. Why do you ask?"

"Word is, they've been targeting kids recently. You know, since they're usually a lot lower leveled and all. I've heard they're selling them to some crazy perverts around town"

"So you think they took this girl?"

"It's more than likely. But I wouldn't recommend crossing them Dagger. Word is, they've got a pretty strong player as their leader."

"Don't you worry about me, Argo. I can take care of myself" Dagger smirked. "Just tell me where their hideout is"

Argo sighed. "Last I heard, they've been operating in an old abandoned building on the north side of town"

"Got it. Thanks for the tip, Argo" Dagger said with an appreciative smile.

"Are you sure about this?" Argo questioned. "These guys can be pretty nasty."

"Leave it to me" Dagger replied with a thumbs up.

Argo watched hesitantly as Dagger walked away. Finally, she decided to go against her better judgment. "Hold on! I'm coming too!"

Dagger turned around as Argo ran over to her. "You don't have to come with me Argo. I can handle this."

"I said I'm going" Argo told her friend. "Us girls gotta stick together. Besides, who else am I gonna go to for some sweet deals if you get yourself killed?"

Dagger smirked as she brought her hood to her head. "Alright then. Let's get moving"

Dagger followed Argo's lead and the two girls walked towards the northern side of the Town of Beginnings. Unlike the rest of the town, this area still had the gloomy feeling from the early days of SAO. That was mostly due to the fact that the group Argo mentioned practically owned this area. They were a crafty bunch, Dagger had to admit that much. They took over an amount of the Town of Beginnings that was large enough to work as a full base of operations, but still small enough where it wouldn't attract the attention of the front line players.

"So where should we start searching?" Argo asked.

"We'll just have to check them one by one and see if we hear anything" Dagger suggested.

Argo followed Dagger through the dark streets. Their hiding skill levels made it easy for them to avoid the detection of most of the players walking around. Finally they reached a building where they could hear players talking inside. Dagger pressed her ear to the door to listen in to the conversation going on inside.

"Looks like we got a pretty good haul today"

"Got that right. Two brats in one day. The boss is gonna be pleased for sure."

Dagger could hear some muffled voices along with the others she just heard. She unsheathed her blade from her waist and motioned for Argo to follow her lead. They quickly burst through the door and sprang into action. There were three goons inside but all of them were caught off guard by the sudden appearance. Argo restrained one as she forcefully grabbed his arm and brought a knife to his neck. Dagger took out the other two by jabbing the first one in the gut and kicking the second in the back of the head. Both of them toppled over on each other and Dagger planted her boot on the back of the guy on top. Within a minute, all three of them were restrained with their hands tied behind their backs with rope. Dagger found two girls tied up with gagas in their mouths, one of whom matched Mira's description.

"Are you ok?" Dagger asked as she pulled the gags from their mouths and cut them lose. Too scared to speak, the two young girls could only nod their heads in response. Dagger continued with her questions. "Is one of your names Mina by any chance?"

"I… I am" the brunette responded.

Dagger gave a reassuring smile as she patted the girl's head. "Don't worry. You're safe now." She looked towards Argo. "Get them back to the safe part of town"

"What about you?" Argo asked.

"I'll catch up. I just need to have a little conversation with these boys here" Dagger told her friend.

Argo seemed a little hesitant, but decided to trust her red haired friend. She looked outside to make sure the coast was clear and then led the two younger girls through the darks streets. Now all alone with the goons. Dagger walked over to them, planting her boot on one of their backs to assert her dominance. "Now who feels like talking?"

"Wh-Who the hell are you?!" one of them asked.

"That's not important right now." Dagger said. "All we need to know is where your boss is"

"Ha! Like we'd tell you something like that!"

Dagger sighed as she took her boot off of the player's back she was currently standing on. She lifted her boot and this time stomped it onto the goon's cheek. He groaned from the pain he felt from the merchant's foot pressing firmly on his cheek.

"Look boys, we can do this the easy way where you just cough up the information or we can do this the hard way where I make you talk after covering you with bruises."

"Gah! Damn bitch!"

"Eh, I've been called worse" Dagger said with a smirk. "Now then, that info?"

"Ngh… five blocks down. Largest building on the right."

"Good boy" Dagger grinned as she patted him on the head like a dog. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"

And with that, Dagger walked out the door and went towards her next destination.

XXXXXXXXXXX

In one of the buildings in the northern area of the Town of Beginnings, laughter and merriment could be loudly heard even from outside. About a dozen male players were conversing and drinking alcohol. One player, a bald man in his thirties or so, sat on his chair and leaned back. Multiple fancy items stood around him. All of them were paid thanks to the money he got from selling the items his kidnapped victims owned. A female player was tied to a pole next to him. He cupped his hand, holding the girl's face in it. "What do you say we get to know each other better?"

"Let me go you creep!" the girl yelled, following up by spitting in his face.

The man paused for a few moments before rising to his feet. He wiped the saliva off his face and proceeded to send a powerful right hook to the girl's face. Her health didn't go down due to them being in a safe zone, but it didn't stop the fact that it had hurt like hell. The girl whimpered in pain as the man grabbed her by the throat and gave a malicious grin towards her. "Just for that, I'm gonna make sure I take my time with you"

"You son of a bitch" another female player who was tied up snarled. "How do you sleep at night?"

"Like a baby" he grinned. "Now then, who wants to-"

"BOSS!" a sudden shriek interrupted. All heads turned to the door as it was busted down from a player being thrown into it. A few seconds later, the group watched a lone girl with red hair tied up in a ponytail walk in, twirling a knife in her hand. Most of the men in the room looked at her with fear, but the bald man simply smirked at the new arrival.

"What do we have here?" he questioned. "Did you come to be the next addition to my collection?"

Dagger shrugged while keeping a smug grin on her face. "No, I just heard how ugly you were and I just HAD to see it for myself. Boy were the rumors right"

"Oh, a feisty one eh?" he grinned. "What's your name kid?"

"It's rude to ask for someone's name without giving your own first, you know?"

"Very well then. You can call me Scourge" the bald man said.

"Scourge? Really?" Dagger asked with her eyes narrowed. "I swear, guys like you have no originality"

"Say what you want toots. I'm the one in power here" Scourge pointed out. "So what should I call you?"

"You don't need to know my name" Dagger smirked. "After all, you're about to be lying on the floor crying like a baby"

"Is that so?" Scourge asked. He looked to his men around the room and motioned towards Dagger. "Get her, boys"

Dagger watched as multiple male players charged towards her. They didn't have their weapons out as inflicting damage to player's HP in safe zones was impossible without their being a duel. But they still had her overpowered. After all, how tough could one girl be?

That was a mistake they would soon regret making.

Dagger nimbly dodged one of the incoming males and took out a second as she swung her foot up and kicked him in the jaw. She followed up by leaping over another guy and kicking him from behind, sending him crashing into another one of his friends. One male managed to grab her arm, but a firm stomp from Dagger's boot on his foot quickly forced him to let go. Before he could recover, he saw Dagger's fist veiled in light as she sent a swift punch to his face.

Scourge watched as his men were taken down one by one. He growled in annoyance as he watched the red haired girl stand triumphantly while his men lied on the floor moaning in pain. "Idiots. Every one of them."

"So then, are you willing to surrender peacefully?" Dagger asked with an innocent smile that contradicted the violent side of her she had shown seconds before.

Scourge grinned as he grabbed a broad axe and lifted it into the air using one hand with a great show of strength. "Trust me girlie, I'm a lot tougher than those guys you just beat."

"Is that so?" Dagger asked. "Well at least this should be a little more interesting"

Scourge charged at Dagger with a firm grip on his axe. He leaped towards her and swung his axe down, which Dagger skillfully dodged with a back flip. She went in for an attack with her shortsword. As she swung her blade at her opponent, Scourge backed away and swung his axe upwards, knocking the merchant's weapon out of her hands. Dagger's eyes widened as a blow came for her from Scourge's axe, knocking her into a wall with a painful thud. She grunted as Scourge walked over to her and lifted her up by the throat.

"Any last words?"

"Actually yeah" Dagger said with a smirk. "You shouldn't of let your guard down."

Before Scourge realized what she meant, Dagger reeled her leg back and swung it full force into Scourge's unmentionables. The bald man's eyes bulged out as he dropped Dagger and brought his free hand in-between his legs. "Tricky little-"

Scourge didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Dagger sent a powerful kick to his face, sending him tumbling back and dropping his axe in the process. Dagger quickly restrained him by tying his hands behind his back. Scourge struggled to move, but couldn't get out of his lying position.

With Scourge dealt with, Dagger walked over and freed the captive female players one by one. Needless to say, they were more than willing to take advantage of Scourge's helplessness as several swift kicks came at him. His health may not have decreased, but the pain from the repeated kicks made Scourge wish they could just finish him off.

Dagger soon sent an anonymous message to the front lines players, telling them about Scourges group and the monstrous acts they had committed. A team was soon dispatched to round up Scourge and his friends, but when they arrived they found that their messenger had vanished, leaving Scourge and his friends all tied up.

The next day, Dagger paid a visit to the church Sasha stayed at. She said a quick hello to Mina before explaining to Sasha that the kidnapping group had been fully taken care of. Sasha thanked Dagger over and over again, saying she couldn't repay her enough for what she had done. Dagger was fine with accepting the cash reward that came her way though. As she walked through the streets, she saw a familiar face come up to greet her.

"Didn't take you for the dark knight type of hero" Argo said with a teasing grin.

"Well I can't have the front lines realizing I've set up shop here for now. Too many people up there are pissed from how I ripped them off." Dagger grinned back.

"By the way, I heard that all the fancy items Scourge had in his building mysteriously disappeared before the players from the front lines arrived. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you?"

Dagger innocently whistled as they walked. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't see any fancy treasures there"

"Whatever you say" Argo chuckled. "Well, I've got info to sell. See you around"

Dagger watched as Argo quickly vanished from sight. It was something all SAO merchants had learned to get good at. Beating a hasty retreat came in handy more often than not. The red haired merchant opened up her menu and took a look at the large horde of items she now had in her inventory from her pickpocketing at Scourge's. She had even managed to swipe the powerful axe he had on his back, something Dagger mostly did to further humiliate him. To be completely honest, she didn't care too much about helping the captive girls. She was mostly interested in the money she got as a result. Helping the other players out was just a small bonus.

' _All in a day's work for the Rip-Off Merchant.'_ Dagger grinned as she walked through the streets.

 **A/N: And that's Dagger everybody. As I was trying to think of a chapter idea that wouldn't rush the story like I did in the original, I thought "Hey, why not do an intro for Dagger's character?". And thus, the chapter was born. I hope you all liked it. Please review and tell me what you think.**


	5. Twin Ripper

**A/N: Hey everybody. Time for the new chapter. I have been on a roll updating my fics these past few days, even one that had been on hiatus for a few months. I hope you all enjoy the chapter readers.**

Several months had passed since Sword Art Online began. In that time, the players fighting on the assault team had finally made it to Floor 19. They had just finished the boss raid to get to this floor yesterday and needless to say, they were still exhausted. Even with the strong measures taken in keeping everyone safe, there were still casualties from time to time. But they knew they had to keep going. Stopping now just because it was dangerous was not something the assault team was willing to do.

During the time they had spent together on the front lines, Ren and his party had decided to form a guild together. The name of the guild they had created was called Wyvern's Inferno. As most guilds did, Wyvern's Inferno decided to choose two base colors for their clothing, which ended up being red and black.

Today was going to be just like every other day. Ren and the others would go into the fields and dungeons, grind their levels, and try to find the boss room. The routine had become so common for the players on the front lines, it was almost boring. The constant danger to their lives kept that boredom to a minimum however.

The fields of Floor 19 mostly seemed to consist of ruins. Old-looking stone structures covered the area and most of the enemies consisted of skeletons and other undead creatures.

"Take this!" Helios grinned as he swung his axe upwards, cutting through yet another monster. The enemy let out a cry of defeat and shattered into fragments. The last remaining zombie in the mob was quickly finished off as Ren slashed through it with his sword, finally giving the guild a brief moment to rest and recover their HP.

"We're making good progress" Ren said as he gulped down a health potion. "If we're lucky, we might be able to map out half the dungeon by the end of the day"

"Yeah, but who knows if the boss room is in this dungeon" Mai pointed out. "We might just be running around for nothing"

"That's not entirely true" Alice said. "Even if the boss to the next floor isn't here, we still might find a mini-boss that can give us some good xp and a few rare drops."

"We don't really need the xp. We're all pretty high leveled compared to the rest of the assault team." Helios shrugged as he gave a smug grin.

"We can't be too careful though." Mai said. "Unlike you, we can't get through everything with pure egotism"

"What was that squirt?!" Helios glared.

"You heard me, jackass!" Mai said with a glare right back.

' _Here we go again'_ Ren thought to himself with a sigh. Days were always eventful with this group, but there were moments that brought their fair share of headaches from the bickering. He continued to listen to Mai and Helios ramble on.

"Why the hell do you have to been an egotistical pain in the ass all the time?!"

"Why do you have to be so weak and always slow us down?!"

"Alright, enough!" Alice yelled, immediately silencing the duo. She glared at Helios. "Don't go insulting my sister! Got it Helios?!"

"… Am I allowed to insult Riku?"

"Sure"

"Hey!" Riku shouted from his siting position, not wanting to be the target for Helios's constant barrage of insults.

"That's enough guys" Ren said as he got up. "We should keep going. The dungeon isn't too far away"

"Fine" Helios and Mai groaned together. The group of five ended their brief rest period and continued making their way to the dungeon.

Another half hour passed by from killing mobs and walking till Wyvern's Inferno arrived at their destination. A large entrance stood before them that led underground. Torches were lit along the side walls. No doubt more undead monsters would be down there.

Ren and his friends walked through the dimly lit dungeon, slowly getting used to fighting in the dark. The torches made it so it wasn't impossible to see anything, but it still didn't light up the place entirely. As they entered another open room, a mob of monsters appeared yet again. The group of five unsheathed their weapons and prepared to fight.

"Tuuuuurrrrnnn baaaaaaaaacckk" one of the zombies moaned. "Leave now unless thou wish to join the city of the dead"

"Oh, I'm SO scared" Helios said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. "You pussies are going down"

"Take em' down guys!" Ren ordered. With a collective nod, the five of them dashed towards their opponents and prepared to fight.

Ren used his high speed to cut through a line of enemies in seconds with a sword skill. The monsters didn't even have a chance to fight back as they shattered into fragments. Alice blocked an incoming strike from one of the skeleton's spears. She pushed the monster back and knocked it off balance, following up with a powerful slash that cut its body in half. She soon cut down another one that came at her, skillfully ripping apart enemy after enemy. Riku stunned the enemies that came at him with his throwing knives. Mai followed up with several thrusts from her rapier to take care of the monsters before they could recover. Helios didn't put much effort into strategy and instead smashed anything that stood in his path with his powerful axe. He swung the heavy weapon down at one of the monsters, creating a crater in the process. When more arrived to attack, Helios swung his weapon around in a full circle and cut all of them down at once.

After a few minutes of fighting, the mob had been completely and utterly destroyed. Ren and the others took a moment to catch their breath and recover. As they rested, Ren opened his menu to check the map. So far, they had mapped out a large amount of the area. If his instincts were right, the dungeon boss or maybe even the floor boss room would be just up ahead.

Ren and the group kept their rest short. It would really suck if the mob respawned while they were still there. To keep that from happening, they got moving as soon as their health was restored and they had recovered some of their stamina.

It wasn't long till Ren's theory was proven right. Not even a few minutes after they got moving, the guild found the entrance to a large room. There weren't any doors in front of them, meaning it most likely wasn't the floor boss. But all paths were dead ends. This was the only place left in the dungeon, meaning there had to be something just past here.

"Ok guys, the boss should be just up ahead" Ren told the group. "When we get in there, Helios and I will get its agro on us. Alice will flank from the right while Mai and Riku take the left. Any objections?"

Nobody spoke up so Ren decided to take it as a no. The five of them walked into the room with their weapons already out. The room was pitch black, reducing visibility to zero. Ren and the others kept their ears sharp for any noise. That idea turned out to be futile as flames lit up around the room, creating a full circle and trapping them inside. Ren looked across the room to see a large monster in front of them. It had a skull head, but the rest of its body was covered by a long black robe. Both of its hands were gripped tightly around the handle of a large scythe with a black handle and a shiny curved silver blade. Two health bars could be seen next to its cursor along with the boss's name. The Reaper.

Ren slowly tried to judge the situation. They had never encountered a monster wielding a scythe before. In fact, this was probably the first time he heard of scythes even existing in Aincrad. The main problem this brought on was how to deal with it. There was no way to predict what kind of attacks it had until it the second it would use them.

"Stick with the formation" Ren decided. "Wait till Helios and I have its attention." Ren looked over at Helios and the two of them nodded together. The two friends kicked off the ground and sped towards the boss. Seeing two victims coming towards it, The Reaper readied its scythe. Ren's eyes widened as he saw the curved blade become veiled in the light of a sword skill.

' _There's a skillset for scythes too?!'_ Ren realized in shock. Instinctively, Ren and Helios jumped sideways to dodge the incoming attack as the boss swung its weapon straight down. The attack missed its two targets, but the shockwave created from the impact sent Ren and Helios flying. Both of them tumbled across the ground painfully on opposite sides of the boss. It was just Ren's luck that the boss decided to turn towards him instead of Helios, who could tank far better than him. Ren got to his feet as the boss prepared to attack him.

"Hang on, Ren!" Alice yelled as she sped towards the boss. Before it could notice her, Alice leapt into the air and activated a sword skill for her katana. Her blade lit up in a crimson red light and she slashed off its left arm. A gash appeared across its arm were Alice's blade cut and the limb fell to the floor next to her as she landed. The boss turned its attention to her and glared. Alice smirked at how angry she had made the undead opponent. _'A lot of good that anger will do him when he only has one hand to use that scythe. Dodging it will be easy'_

"Alice, behind you!" Mai called out. Alice turned around just as the arm she had cut off moved on its own and grabbed her. Alice found herself being crushed by the arm's grip. She hadn't expected the boss's ripped off limbs to be able to move on their own. How could she have? Her situation only got worse as The Reaper prepared to cut her down while she was binded.

Alice screamed in terror and closed her eyes as the scythe came down at her. What she soon felt wasn't the blade of the scythe cutting through her. Instead she heard the sound of a blade cutting into something and then felt the grip around her loosen. She opened her eyes just in time to see Ren tackle her away from the incoming attack. Her back hit the ground hard, but it was definitely the better option compared to being ripped in half by that scythe. She noticed her breathing and heartbeat increase rapidly as Ren laid on top of her. She chalked it up to being the adrenaline rush from the battle and nothing more.

"Are you alright, Alice?" Ren asked as he got off of her and helped her to her feet.

Alice nodded, still recovering from having her life flash before her eyes. "Y-Yeah. Thanks Ren"

The two of them looked to see the boss's arm flail around wildly. It soon levitated into the air and flew towards its owner, reattaching to the boss's shoulder.

"So much for that" Alice muttered grimly as she saw the boss once again have both of its hands gripped on its scythe. The HP it had lost hadn't recovered, which was something at least. But it still didn't change the fact that her ripping off the arm hadn't done much good.

While the boss was distracted with Ren and Alice, Helios took the opportunity to attack it from behind. His axe lit up in an orange light as she slashed at the boss's main body. He smirked as the weapon got closer to the boss, but when it seemed to hit nothing but air his eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?!"

Finally noticing the player behind it, The Reaper turned around and swung its scythe at the axe user. Helios luckily only got hit by the handle, but it didn't lessen the pain as it sent him flying through the air as if he was a golf ball and the boss's scythe was the club. He crashed into the ground with a painful thud, groaning in pain as he got to his feet.

"What just happened?" Mai questioned. "I thought Helios's attack connected. How did it recover so quickly?"

As if to answer the young brunette's question, the boss let out a roar. It held its scythe directly in front of it as if it was a staff. A powerful gust of wind manifested around the boss and blew outwards, threatening to blow Ren and the others away. The wind blew The Reaper's robe open, revealing its body. The part that shocked everyone was that there wasn't any body to speak of. The inside of the robe was completely empty which meant the only solid body the boss had was its head and its two arms. Dealing damage to either of those would be difficult.

To add to the guild's troubles the scythe the boss was holding slowly split into two smaller scythes, each one just small enough to be wielded by one hand. The Reaper skillfully spun its now two scythes around to show off its skill and show the guild just how much more difficult this fight had gotten.

"Gimme a break!" Ren growled as he watched their now even stronger opponent. Now wasn't the time to be complaining though, and he knew that full well. He had to think of a strategy fast or they were all doomed. "Helios, can you buy me some time?"

"Leave it to me!" Helios said with a nod. He charged forward towards the boss with a firm grip on his axe. The boss readied to attack the lone player charging towards it. He dodged the first scythe that came his way and deflected the second one with a mighty swing of his axe. The blow knocked the scythe up into the air and exposed the boss for an attack. Helios leaped into the air and sent a kick at the boss's head. The blow knocked it back it little, but Helios wasn't done yet. He swung his axe at the skeleton head and brought it crashing down into the ground with him. Mai and Riku joined the fray as they activated skills for their weapons and brought their opponent's HP down even further. There was only half a health bar left to go as they jumped back.

Finally Ren got an idea in his head. It was risky, but it was also probably their best bet. "Alice, Helios, I need you to get the boss's attention and get it to swing both of its scythes down at you at the same time."

"You got it" they both said as they rushed forward towards the boss that had just gotten back up. Just like Ren wanted, it took both of its scythes and swung them downwards at the two players simultaneously. Alice and Helios dodged just in time to avoid the hit.

"Now!" Ren ordered. "Grab the scythes! Don't let it bring them back up!"

Obeying their guild leader, Helios and Alice gripped the handles of the scythes and tried to hold them in place. It was no easy task though as the boss's strength was enormous. They would only be able to hold them down for a few seconds. Luckily a few seconds was all Ren needed. "Mai, Riku, with me!"

Mai and Riku dashed forward with Ren to attack the boss while it was immobilized. All three of their weapons lit up as they hit The Reaper with a barrage of slashes. Ren finished the last slash of his skill just as the boss freed its two weapons and raised them up again. Ren watched as its HP bar slowly went down further and further. Just as Ren thought it was over, the bar stopped decreasing, with a small sliver of health left.

' _Dammit!'_ Ren thought. _'I was so close!'_

The boss prepared to attack the leader while he was stuck in the post motion delay. Ren wanted to move, but his body was completely frozen.

"Ren!" Helios yelled. "Look out!"

Ren watched as the two scythes came down at him. The never connected though, as a sudden flash of light passed by him. He watched as Alice flew overhead and ripped off the boss's arms with two powerful slashes. The limbs flew off along with the weapons they were holding. Ren felt the curved blades skid past him, nearly connecting with his body.

Having its two arms severed was more than enough to finish off the last of The Reaper' HP as it let out a cry of pain and shattered into fragments. Alice sheathed her katana and fell to her knees from exhaustion. As she caught her breath, Alice saw a window open up in front of her showing her the special drops she had got from dealing the last attack. Most of the drops automatically went to Ren since he was the party leader. One piece of equipment she received caught her attention almost immediately.

Twin Ripper

Alice tapped the tab showing the item's name and it manifested in front of her. It was a long scythe quite similar to that of the one the boss had been using. One main difference however was that there were two blades instead of one. The blades themselves were a shiny silver color that was so clean and polished that Alice could see her face in it. The rest of the guild saw the new weapon Alice was holding and walked over to see it.

"Wow, a scythe! That's so cool!" Mai exclaimed as she stared at the weapon in awe.

"I don't think I've heard of anyone else getting a scythe before. This could be a first for all of Aincrad." Riku stated.

"What are you gonna do with it Alice?" Ren asked.

Alice looked at the weapon in wonder. Most of her skill points had been put in to the katana skillset. Changing weapon types now could pose its fair share of problems, especially since nobody even knew a scythe skillset existed up until now. But at the same time, Alice felt she couldn't just abandon or sell it. It was as if the weapon was calling out to her.

"I think I'm going to give it a try" Alice told her friends. "I'll see how well I can use it and go from there"

The group nodded in understanding. With the boss beaten and the dungeon fully explored, Wyvern's Inferno decided to call it a day. They were all exhausted from the fight they just had anyway.

After teleporting back to town, Ren and the rest of the guild went to eat and then headed to the inn. As they walked through town, Alice got many people staring at her for the unique weapon she had. Nobody had ever seen a scythe in SAO before, so it was definitely a conversation starter. No doubt the news of the new weapon type would be known all over Aincrad within a matter of days.

When they reached the inn, everybody went to their separate rooms. Before she reached hers however, Alice felt a touch on her shoulder. The black haired girl turned to see Ren. "Hey Ren. Is there something you need?"

"Well… it's just… I was thinking…"

"Go on"

"If you ever need a training partner for your scythe, feel free to ask me." Ren told her. "Switching weapon types isn't easy so I figured you might like some help whenever you're training on your own."

Alice noticed the shy tone of her guild leader's voice. "Ren? Is something wrong?"

"Wh-What?! N-No, nothing's wrong." Ren assured her as he quickly turned around and started to walk away. "Well, good night"

"Yeah… good night" Alice said back before going to her own room.

Ren walked into his room at the inn and immediately dived onto his bed, planting his face on the mattress. _'What's wrong with me? Why did I say that to Alice?'_ Lately whenever he was alone, all Ren could thought about outside of clearing the game was Alice. He offered his help to her for training without even thinking. How was he supposed to help her? He didn't know the first thing about using scythes.

Then there was him saving her from the boss earlier. Granted he was the guild leader and he would put his life on the line to save any of his friends, but something was different this time. He felt like he had to save Alice then and there no matter what. And even after he saved her, he couldn't take his eyes off her for the rest of the fight to make sure she was ok. Why did he feel so different about Alice?

' _Why can't I get her out of my head?'_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alice laid on her bed with a sigh. She was changed out of her armor and into a pajama outfit, but she still had her scythe equipped. She held it into the air and examined it. It was certainly a unique weapon and if she could master it, who knew what it could mean for the front lines in boss raids. The question was, could she master it. Would Ren be disappointed in her if she didn't?

' _Wait, why did my mind suddenly go to Ren?'_ Alice thought. _'I mean sure he saved me, but he's my guild leader. That's his job, isn't it?'_

Suddenly Alice's head was filled with thoughts about Ren. She put her scythe away and pulled the covers over her, trying to get to sleep. Her body didn't seem to let her fall asleep though. All she could think about was Ren. But why? Why was she unable to think of anything else other than him? And why was she so afraid of letting him down? And why did her heart beat so fast when he was near her?

' _It can't be… I'm not falling in love with him or anything… am I? No! No, no, no, no, no! Get it together Alice! He's just your guild leader, nothing more! Sure he's strong and handsome and kind and oh god I'm doing it again!'_

She couldn't have feelings for Ren. It would cause too many problems for the guild if she told him that she liked him. Ren was always so busy trying to develop strategies to make sure everyone stayed alive. She couldn't distract him from that. And what if he didn't feel the same way about her? Neither one of them would escape the awkwardness that would occur as a result. Alice pulled the covers over her head and tried to get her mind off the brown haired teen and fall asleep. She finally succeeded as her consciousness slowly drifted off.

 **A/N: Yep. The shipping is getting closer and closer. I know in the original the whole RenXAlice ship was really rushed, so I wanted to drag it out a little instead of springing it on out of nowhere.**

 **Also, and I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier (sorry if I did), but this new version will include both new and old chapters from the original story. For the old chapters, I will be updating them to make it third person and with a much better quality of writing, but I may also be changing a few thing here and there. Don't worry, it won't be any drastic changes that would entirely change the story, but don't expect everything to be a perfect match with the original.**


	6. A Bitter Hatred

**A/N: Hey guys. Hope you're all ready for a new chapter. I'm gonna warn you guys right now that this chapter is fairly short compared to the others, but I think you will all like it regardless.**

The sound of the hammer pounding on metal echoed throughout Liz's shop. There was no one who heard it however as the shop itself was completely empty. The only sound that could be heard was that of Liz's hammer as she tirelessly hit it against a metal.

Today so far had been somewhat boring for the female blacksmith. There weren't many orders in, and the ones she had were mostly just upgrading weapons. She wished she had something more interesting to do.

Finally Liz finished her upgrade on the latest weapon she was working on. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and leaned back in her chair. If she was going to be exhausted from work, she wished it would be from something a little more exciting.

' _Ugh, this is so BORING!'_ Liz thought to herself. As she contemplated what to do for the rest of the day now that her orders were done, she heard the sound of the front door to her shop opening.

"Hello? Anyone here?"

' _I swear if this is another upgrade order, I'm gonna lose it'_ Liz told herself. She walked out of her workshop and looked out the window of the door connecting her workshop and the main part of the shop.

The person standing in the shop seemed to be an assault team member based on the high grade armor he was wearing. He had ashy black hair and his armor was red and black. From the looks of it he seemed to be a tank.

"Come on! I don't have all day!" the player yelled, getting somewhat impatient with the fact that nobody was coming out to help him.

' _I better go see what he wants'_ Liz thought with a sigh. She opened the door to greet the player. "Hello. Welcome to Lizbeth's Smith Shop."

"Finally" the player said with a roll of his eyes. "Is the blacksmith in?"

"Umm… you're looking at her"

The player looked at Liz, checking out her outfit that definitely didn't resemble that of a blacksmith. "Right… sorry if I couldn't tell by your obvious blacksmith uniform. The thrills on your skirt are a dead giveaway."

' _Ugh, great. A smartass is just what this day needed'_ Liz silently thought. But in the end, a customer was still a customer. "Well what can I help you with, sir"

"The name's Helios, and I need a custom order" he explained. "I'm looking for a really powerful axe"

"Can I get any specifics on what kind of axe you would like?"

"Something that can cleave off a dragon's neck in one strike"

"... What?"

"I need an axe that's capable of cleaving off a dragon's neck in one strike. Was I speaking gibberish or something?"

Liz mentally facepalmed herself. Why did she always get insane orders like this? "I'm sorry sir, but doing something like that is impossible at my current level. I don't even think someone who's maxed out their forging skill would be capable of making an axe that powerful"

"Oh really?" he asked. "Let me ask you something. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"What?"

"Look I'm not stupid. You're just trying to extort me for more money" he said. "I'm not falling for that kind of stuff. Now make me that damn axe or else you'll regret it."

"Excuse me?! Look pal, I told you I simply can't do it! I'm not extorting you or anything, it's just impossible for an axe to be able to cleave off the neck of a boss monster in one strike!"

"Just like the rest of these shitty weapons I assume?" Helios questioned. He walked over to the display case where Liz had several swords on display and picked one up. With one swing onto the table, the sword broke in half.

"What the hell are you doing to my swords?!" Liz yelled at the top of her lungs.

"See that?" he asked as he pointed to the polygons fragments that used to be Liz's sword as they shattered across the ground. "One by one, your weapons will turn out just like that if you don't make me the best damn axe you can."

"Ok, ok, let's just calm down for a second" Liz told him. She'd much rather throw him out of the shop, but she could tell their difference in strength would be a huge problem if push came to shove. "I'll see what I can do about the axe, but I can't make any promises like having it cleave off a dragon's neck in one strike"

"I suggest you try your best then missie. I have high standards for my weapons"

Liz closed the door to her workshop and sighed. "Why me?" Liz quickly opened her menu and began typing. Even if she had the skill to, there was no way she was making this guy any weapons. He had gone too far and Liz was not willing to give into any threats. There was only one thing to do. Call for help.

 _Asuna,_

 _Please help me! You're the only one I can turn to! There's some crazy psychopath in my shop demanding that I make him an axe that is simply impossible for me to make! Please get here as soon as you can!_

 _-Liz_

It was only a minute or so later that Liz got a reply from her friend saying she was on her way and to sit tight. Liz breathed a sigh of relief. Asuna would surely be able to deal with this guy. She was skilled and well known among the front line players even though she was still a solo player.

Helios tapped his foot on the floor as he impatiently waited for Liz to make his axe. Several minutes passed by as he waited. His patience was gradually growing thin. "Are you almost done yet?! This is taking forever!"

Suddenly Helios heard the front door open behind him as someone rushed into the building. "Liz! Liz, are you-... oh god, you have got to be kidding me."

"Asuna!" a sudden yell came from the workshop as Liz rushed in and hugged her friend. After the quick hug, she hid behind Asuna and pointed to Helios. "That's him! The guy I was talking about! Be careful Asuna! He's dangerous!"

"Sup Asuna" Helios said with a casual wave.

Asuna groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Helios,were you causing trouble here?"

"No…"

"He's lying!" Liz yelled as she pointed an accusing finger at Helios. "He was threatening to break all my weapons just cause I couldn't make the most overpowered axe ever"

Asuna glared at Helios. "Is this true?"

"Oh that? That was just a joke" Helios said as he tried to laugh it off. "Like I'd really go and do something like that"

"LIAR!" Liz shouted.

Asuna sighed as she opened her menu and began typing a message to Ren. "Honestly, I don't know how Ren and the others put up with you"

Suddenly Liz took notice of the casual way the two players were speaking to each other. "Hold on. You two know each other?"

"Yeah, he's kind of a friend of a friend" Asuna said with a sigh.

"Oh gee, thanks for holding me in such high regard" Helios said sarcastically. "I'm on your Friends List aren't I?"

"Well maybe if you'd stop being an ass to everyone, people would think more highly of you" Asuna countered.

Asuna and Helios continued their back and forth conversation. As they did, Liz couldn't believe just how well the two of them knew each other. After a little bit longer, Ren finally showed up. The guild leader sighed as he looked at his friend. "What did you do this time, Helios?"

"Nothing, I swear!" Helios defended. "I was just-"

"He threatened Liz here and broke a sword of hers apparently" Asuna said as she was in no mood to deal with this extended lie Helios probably made up.

Ren sighed in annoyance as he turned to Lizbeth. "I apologize for my guild member. I hope my guild can still continue to use your shop if that's ok"

Liz was a bit surprised at the fact that someone this seemingly polite and civilized would be friends with someone like Helios who seemed to be the exact opposite. The guild leader seemed sincere so Liz decided to shrug off the grudge she was currently feeling towards Helios. "It's fine, no problem. Just make sure to keep your raging friend here in line next time"

"I'll be sure to do that" Ren nodded. He grabbed Helios by the ear and began dragging him out. "You and I need to have a talk"

"Owowowow! Ok, no pulling!" Helios complained as he came along with his guild leader. Before heading out the door, he looked over and mouthed to Liz "You better watch your back, blacksmith"

Liz felt a cold shiver run down her back as Helios left. Asuna gave her friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Liz. Helios may be a pain in the ass, but Ren's pretty good at controlling him."

"I guess the front lines have all kinds of people"

"You have no idea" Asuna sighed. "Well, I gotta get going. See you later Liz!"

"Later Asuna!" Liz said as she waved goodbye. "If your weapon ever needs some maintenance, feel free to come over."

XXXXXXXXXXX

-A few days later-

Liz turned the sign on her shop to 'Closed' and got ready to head out. Today was for gathering materials she would need for forging and upgrades. It was the one day Liz got to see some action instead of just making weapons.

As Liz opened the door and walked outside, she was unfortunately greeted with a sudden bucket falling from above on top of her and spilling something sticky all over her.

"Ew, gross! What is this stuff?" Liz moaned as she looked at herself. Judging by the color and how sticky it was, she figured it was probably some kind of sap. But who would do such a thing?

As if to answer her question, Liz found an envelope along with the bucket. She picked it up and opened it, revealing a small note that read only one thing.

' _This is only the beginning, blacksmith._

 _Signed, Your worst nightmare'_

' _Helios…'_ Liz thought. She clenched her fists and felt steam come out of her ears from how furious she was. She yelled out to the sky at the top of her lungs.

"Alright jackass! If that's how you wanna play, then fine! Get ready for the toughest battle of your life!"

And thus, a relationship filled with scorn and hate unlike anything anyone had ever seen was born into the world of Aincrad.

 **A/N: So for those of you that haven't started reading Blazing Revolution yet, I'll tell you all right now that this hatred is only going to grow stronger and stronger. Again, I apologize for how short this chapter was. I promise the next one will be longer. Till then readers!**


	7. The Hydra Orochi

**A/N: Alright guys. Before I begin this chapter I would like to say 2 things to all you SAO fans.**

 **1) SAO is getting a movie! It has been officially announced that Reki Kawahara is making an SAO movie with a brand new story. There are very little details about it, but I am SO FREAKING PSYCHED!**

 **2) A new SAO video game for the Play Station 4 and Vita has been announced called SAO: Hollow Realization, which will be released in Japan in 2016.**

 **I found both of these out yesterday and my hype levels have been through the roof! But enough about the obvious proof that there is an anime loving god out there. Let's get on with the chapter.**

Night was slowly darkening on the world of Aincrad. The sky was black except for the twinkling stars in the sky. Most parties had already returned from the fields and dungeons by now, and they were all exhausted. That had become commonplace during the assault team's stay on Floor 25.

When the front lines reached Floor 25 two weeks ago everyone was excited and celebrating. They had finally made it a quarter of the way up Aincrad. It was an achievement to be happy about. That happiness soon died when everyone realized how dangerous Floor 25 was. The fields were filled with dungeons and swamps that were all set up with traps that would poison, paralyze, and in some cases even kill players. Maneuvering through the floor was dangerous and risky to say the least.

Ren and his guild had been able to traverse through the dangerous fields without too much trouble thanks to Riku's detection skill which identified most of the traps in the area. Helios had made sure to keep his insults to a minimum as well while they were here.

Currently Ren was sitting on a bench and recovering from the long day he and his guild had. Finally the boss room had been located and the raid party would be challenging it tomorrow. Ren let out an exhausted sigh as he leaned back. "This floor was way too dangerous for my taste"

"You said it" another voice said from his side. Ren turned his head to see Alice taking a seat next to him. She seemed just as tired as him, and frankly Ren couldn't blame her. Between working on how to effectively use her scythe in battle and dealing with the dangers of the floor, she was probably wiped out.

Through the past few weeks, Alice had been able to use her scythe for daily grinding in the fields and had stopped using her katana for the most part. Besides her weapon choice, Alice's clothing had also changed quite a bit. She wore a two strapped red combat dress with black frills at the bottom along with a black leather belt collar strapped around her neck. Her boots were black, along with the leggings she wore.

Ren wore a crimson red coat with black trimmings running down the edges of the coat. Dark bloody red boots were equipped down at his feet and his pants were a jet black color. He had brown fingerless gloves on his hands and his usual one-handed style sword was sheathed along his back.

Helios was the most heavily armored of the group. He was equipped with red chest and leg plates, along with a pair of black roped gauntlets with yellow studs at the knuckle area and plated black boots.

Mai wore a red combat dress with a black miniskirt at the end that fit her child-like appearance and had a lightweight breastplate covering her chest. The leggings she wore were red, but her boots were black. Red fingerless gloves covered her hands and her new rapier, which she had recently gotten from Liz, was sheathed at her waist.

Riku still wore a hooded cloak, but it was now a dark-red color instead of the green it had been before the guild was officially formed. He had lightweight armor under the cloak and the dagger he used was strapped at his waist.

Ren and Alice sat together on the bench. Ren gazed up at the sky with a worried look on his face. "With how tough the dungeons were, I'm honestly a bit worried for the boss fight."

"Me too" Alice nodded. "But I know we can do it. After all, we've got our master tactician with us"

"I wouldn't call myself a master tactician exactly" Ren said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Don't sell yourself short Ren" Alice told him. "You're always able to analyze the situation and come up with a counter strategy to win. It's saved us multiple times already."

"Thanks, Alice" Ren smiled. "But I think it's been our teamwork that's kept us alive for so long"

"That too but I still say you're the guiding force. It's because of you that I'm not so afraid of this death game anymore. I feel like I can do anything with you at my side"

Ren chuckled at the comment. "You know, before SAO nobody would have ever thought that way about me. I was pretty shy and non-sociable. Nobody really relied on me"

"Really?" Alice asked. "What changed you then?"

"When SAO started, I had friends I needed to protect. I met you and Mai, and I became leader of a guild. I guess I changed because I had to in order to protect everyone."

As Alice and Ren continued talking, they were approached by a young player. It was a girl, probably even younger than Mai.

"Hello" Alice greeted with a cheerful smile. "Is there something you need?"

"Y-You're Alice right? From Wyvern Inferno?"

"That's me" Alice nodded.

"C-Can I have your autograph?"

"What?" Alice exclaimed.

"I-If you don't want to I understand, but it's just I-I'm a really big fan of yours and-"

"No, don't worry. It's fine" Alice assured the young girl. "I just never got asked for my autograph before. I didn't think I was that well known on the lower floors"

"No way, you're totally awesome!" the girl said. "I've heard so much about you and how you kick butt on the front lines. I want to be just like you!"

Ren smiled as he listened to the young girl. "Looks like you've got a fan, Alice"

Alice blushed a little, not really used to being the popular type. She accepted the piece of paper the young girl had and signed her name. "Here you go"

The girl looked at the paper with a bright smile. "Thank you so much! I can't believe I got to meet you!"

"Oh stop it. I'm not that special" Alice assured her.

"But you represent so much to me!" she said. "I wish I could be as strong as you are and be on the front lines"

Alice smiled as she patted the young girl on the head. "Just focus on doing the best you can do. Try not to push yourself too hard. Just get stronger a little bit at a time."

"Right!" she nodded. "Thanks for taking time out of your date for me, Miss Alice" the young girl said as she ran off, leaving both Ren and Alice blushing at the comment.

"Do we really look like we're on a date?" Ren asked.

"I don't know. She probably just misunderstood" Alice said. Suddenly, her eyes became fixated on something in the distance. Multiple players were talking to each other in a panicked state. Ren and Alice looked at each other before getting off the bench and walking over to the players.

"Excuse me, is something wrong?" Ren asked.

One of the players turned towards Ren "It's the Aincrad Liberation Force! They went on ahead to challenge the boss alone!"

"They did what?!" Ren gasped.

"Apparently Kibao ordered his group to raid the boss room now, before the scheduled raid tomorrow. According to their leader Thinker, he didn't get any orders to do so however."

"That damn idiot!" Ren cursed. "He'll get everyone killed!"

"What do we do, Ren?" Alice asked.

Ren sighed and looked at the player he was just talking to. "Gather as many players as you can and tell them to meet us at the gate in ten minutes. We're going after them"

"Understood" he said, quickly walking away towards the other players to tell them the plan. Ren quickly opened his menu and messaged his guild members along with Kirito, Asuna, and Klein.

Ten minutes quickly passed by as everyone gathered at the gate of the town on Floor 25. In total, there were about twenty players gathered. Ren was hoping for a bit more, but they didn't have time to waste. After Ren quickly explained the situation, the group moved out.

"What the hell is Kibao thinking?" Klein wondered as they ran through the fields, avoiding as many monsters as possible.

"Greedy idiot just wants to inflate his ego and say he defeated the boss with just his party" Kirito guessed. "Not to mention the xp and rare items."

"I swear if this boss doesn't end up killing him, I will. We're always cleaning up this guy's messes" Helios complained.

After making their way through the field and dungeon, Ren and the others approached the boss room. The doors were already open and screams of agony could be heard coming from inside.

"Those damn idiots" Asuna cursed.

The inside of the room was designed like a swamp. Marshy land and pools of poison covered the area. Across the room, the group could see Kibao and his team on their knees as they cowered in the presence of the floor boss.

The boss in question was a series of eight dragon heads. They were all covered with black scales and had poisonous ooze dripping from their mouths. Each of the heads had a health bar next to it and one name read above the collection of eight heads. The Hydra Orochi.

"What is that thing?!" Alice gasped.

"Something that's not gonna be easy to beat, that's for sure" Kirito said with a worried look.

Ren looked as the two of the boss's heads lunged towards Kibao's group and took out even more of their already dwindling health. Another one of the Aincrad Liberation Force shattered into fragments.

"Get Kibao and the others back to the entrance!" Ren ordered. "Kirito, Asuna, and my team will get the boss's attention!"

Everyone nodded and sprang into action. Ren and his guild sped past Kibao's group and ran towards the boss. Each of them attacked with a sword skill, skinning off a fraction of the boss's health. As they waited to regain movement in their bodies, they saw the boss begin to inhale air. A breath attack was coming. The second Ren felt his body regain movement, he quickly shouted to everyone. "Move!"

The group jumped back a bit, but couldn't get out of the range of the boss's attack. A stream of poisonous gas exhaled from the eight heads engulfed everyone giving them heavy poison status or paralysis. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone had a large supply of antidote crystals due to how badly they were needed to get through the fields and dungeons, they would have been in a really tight spot. After they healed their status ailments, Ren and the others retreated back towards the rest of the group who were currently helping Kibao's group get to their feet.

As Ren and everyone approached them, Kibao glared menacingly. "We don't need your help! We have that thing right where we want it!"

"And by right where you want it, you mean ready to kill all of you" Helios retorted. "Seriously, how bad can you idiots screw things up?"

Kibao glared menacingly at Helios, but couldn't offer a rebuttal as he knew the axe wielder was right.

"We can talk about what a dumbass Kibao is later" Ren said. "Right now, we need to get out of here"

The players helped move Kibao and the other members of the Liberation Force towards the entrance. As they attempted to retreat however, two of the dragon heads moved towards the door, blocking their exit.

"Great, what now?" Klein asked.

"We teleport" Ren suggested. Everyone grabbed their teleportation crystals, but Kibao's group didn't grab any from their belts.

"We can't teleport. We didn't bring enough crystals for all of us" one of them said.

"Are you KIDDING me?!" Asuna yelled. "Who goes to a boss raid and doesn't bring a teleport crystal?!"

"The raid was a last minute order from Kibao. We didn't have enough time for everyone to get one."

Helios face palmed himself. "You guys have got to be the biggest idiots I've ever met"

Alice turned her head towards Ren. "So what do we do now? Regardless of how stupid these guys have been, we can't just leave them here"

Ren racked his brain for a plan. The heads weren't very strong individually since they each only had one health bar, but as a group they made for an extremely dangerous opponent with their status ailment attacks. Finally Ren saw an opportunity with that.

"I think I have an idea" Ren said. "It's a little risky, but we don't have much choice. Two of the heads are currently occupied guarding the door. That leaves us six heads to deal with. Alice, Mai, Riku, Asuna, Kirito, and I will charge at the heads. Once we do, it'll probably attack with its poisonous breath attack. We'll jump back at the last second and while it pauses after the attack, we'll hit it with everything we have."

Everyone nodded in agreement to the plan and the six chosen members went into action. Ren lead the charge as they sped towards the six heads. When he saw the boss begin to inhale, Ren immediately gave the order. "Now!"

Ren put all the strength he could into his legs and jumped back with all his might. He saw the others doing the same. However as Mai attempted to jump back, she tripped over her feet and fell down.

"Mai, look out!" Ren yelled. He immediately halted his retreat and sped towards where the young brunette was lying as the gas from the boss approached her. The guild leader grabbed her by the back of her shirt and threw her back with all his might. Ren got ready to run away, but the gas had already made it to him. It was just his luck that he got the paralysis effect and found himself unable to move his body as he fell over onto the marshy ground.

"REN!" Mai screamed in horror as she hit the ground a safe distance away from the gas.

The two center heads of the boss spit out a venomous ooze from their mouths that slowly flooded the area and made their way towards Ren. Contact with it would almost certainly guarantee instant death.

' _Shit!'_ Ren thought. _'Come on damnit! I need to move!'_

The poisonous ooze slowly made its way towards him. Ren struggled to try and get his body to move, but to no avail. Suddenly, a player appeared in a spiraling blue light. Ren widened his eyes in surprise as Kirito landed right next to him with all the gas blown away form the sword skill he used. Kirito helped Ren get to his feet, supporting him with his shoulder. He jumped away from the incoming ooze with Ren and retreated to a safe distance.

Once they landed near the others, Ren breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Mai ran up to him with tears in her eyes. "Ren, I'm so sorry! Because of me you… you…"

"It's alright Mai. We all mess up sometimes" Ren assured her with a pat on the head. He turned back to Kirito. "Thanks man. I really owe ya for that one"

"It was nothing. Forget about it" Kirito replied as he looked away.

' _Is he really still that upset about leaving me and Klein on day one?'_ Ren wondered. He shook the thought out of his head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. The six heads retracting back and preparing to lunge towards them was proof enough of that.

Klein widened his eyes in fear. "We need to do something fast!"

Helios stepped forward with his axe gripped tightly. "I'll hold them off for a bit. Hurry up and heal"

"Don't be stupid Helios. Your health is just as low as the rest of us from the poison" Asuna told him.

Helios simply took his battle stance and ignored Asuna's comment. "Don't go thinking I'm weak enough to let something like this push me back."

Ren got to his feet with the paralysis gone from his body and stood next to Helios. "I'll help too"

"Ren, you too?!" Asuna gasped.

Klein sighed and stood with them as well. "Guess I better help out too."

Kirito walked up with the group and got ready. "Let's do this"

The six heads lunged towards Ren and the others. Helios, Klein, and Kirito held the first three back by grabbing the incoming jaws, digging their feet into the ground. Ren followed up by jumping on top of one of the heads and running across its long body. The three heads not currently being held back slithered around, trying to take out the speedy player. Ren avoided one with a jump, ripping his sword into its body as it zoomed past him. He bent his body back just in time to avoid the second one, but the third head hit its target, knocking him back, and sending his health into a low shade of red. The three heads surrounded him and all went in together to finish him off. Ren dodged at the last second and used the opening to escape, retreating back towards his friends.

"We need to do something about those heads. We can't keep this up" Ren said.

"Neither can we!" Klein yelled as he struggled to keep the head he was holding back at bay. "This thing's a lot tougher than it looks!"

"Leave it to me" Alice smirked, finally recovered enough to fight without worrying too much about her HP. She leaped into the air and held out her scythe. The curved blade of the weapon lit up in a violet glow as her body spun around like a twister while she descended. Alice's Twin Ripper impaled itself into the head Klein was holding back, causing it to cry in pain. The hit took out the remaining HP it had and the one head shattered. Asuna and Ren attacked the other two heads that Helios and Kirito were holding back, taking them out as well. The trio of Klein, Helios, and Kirito fell down, catching their breath from the exhausting effort.

"See *huff*? What I tell ya? Nothing *huff* to it" Helios said.

As they attempted to take a quick breather from the fact that three heads were now dead, Ren and the others saw the other three heads not guarding the door charge towards them. With no one to block them, Ren and the others widened their eyes in fear until another player suddenly rushed forward, blocking all three heads with the massive shield he was holding.

The man currently blocking the three heads seemed to be in his late twenties, possibly in the thirties. He had gray hair and the armor he was wearing showed he was obviously a tank-type player.

"What the?! Who the heck are you?!" Klein asked.

"My name is Heathcliff" the player said as he tried to hold the three heads back. "Now if you would be so kind, a little help would be much appreciated."

"But how did you…" Klein stopped his question as he looked back towards the door that was supposed to be blocked off by two of the boss's heads. To his surprise, both were dead. "Incredible."

"Klein, help us out here!" Kirito yelled as he and the others began damaging the remaining heads.

"Huh? Oh crap, that's right!" Klein exclaimed as he unsheathed his katana and charged forward to attack.

A flurry of lights from several sword skills hit the boss repeatedly as they tried to push the mystery player that called himself Heathcliff back. Finally everyone succeeded in taking out the HP bars for the remaining three heads of the boss. The shattering fragments that followed were so widespread that it seemed the room itself was shattering.

The second the 'Congratulations' sign appeared, everyone collapsed from the exhausting boss fight and having their lives flash before their eyes on more than one occasion.

"Next time Kibao and his group screws up, can we not rush in to save their asses?" Helios asked.

Kibao gave an agitated 'Hmph' as he glared at Helios. "We could have taken that thing"

"You got most of your men killed in that raid!" Kirito yelled.

"I'm not gonna sit here and be criticized by beater trash like you!" Kibao bit back.

"He might be a beater, but at least he doesn't put people's lives in danger like you did!" Asuna countered.

"No matter what you say, the Aincrad Liberation Force is finished." Ren pointed out. "You guys don't have anywhere near enough members now to stay on the front lines."

"Don't underestimate us pal! We're still the strongest guild on the front lines!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

-The next day-

Tons of players gathered together in the square of Floor 26. A meeting had been called together by Thinker, the leader of the Aincrad Liberation Force guild. Several guilds on the front lines had been invited to attend. Ren and his friends stood in the crowd, but they stood out a bit with the talk of the town being how they helped defeat the Floor 25 boss.

Thinker stood on the podium and began to address the crowd. "Thank you for gathering her today everyone. As I'm sure you've heard by now, a group of players from my guild went to challenge the boss of Floor 25 last night. This reckless action endangered not only their own lives, but the lives of the players that went after them to save them. To those players that risked their lives to save my men, you have my heartfelt thanks"

Ren and his friends gave a collective reassuring smile as if to say 'It was nothing'.

Thinker continued his speech to the crowd. "Many members of the Aincrad Liberation Force perished in their boss raid attempt. It pains me to say it, but we no longer have the strength to continue as the head of the assault team." Multiple gasps and whispers of gossip flooded the crowd, but Ren and those that helped fight in the boss raid had expected to hear as much. Over half of the Liberation Forces members were killed in that massacre of a boss fight. The only question was who would take over as the lead guild of the assault team. Most likely it would be the next strongest guild, the Holy Dragon Alliance.

"I will be stepping down as leader of the assault team, and the player that will take my place has already been chosen." Thinker motioned to the side edge of the podium where a player walked up. It was the same man that had saved Ren and the others in the boss raid, Heathcliff. "This is Heathcliff, the new leader of the assault team. He currently does not belong to any guild, but I can vouch for his strength. He was a big help in defeating the boss of Floor 25." Thinker stepped back for a moment in order to let Heathcliff say a few words of his own.

"Greetings fellow members of the assault team. As Thinker has just said, my name is Heathcliff. It is also true that I am not a part of any guild. However, I would like to change that." Multiple players had their ears perked as he said this. "I will be creating a new guild known as the Knights of the Blood Oath. I will be inviting members to join the guild personally." Heathcliff watched as multiple players began to gossip amongst the crowd. "If anyone has any objections to me taking over as leader of the front lines, they are free to voice their opinions now."

Ren couldn't tell whether it was from people acknowledging his strength, or the intense pressure he seemed to give off, but nobody spoke up.

"It seems there are no objections. Good. Then if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to for starting up the Knights of the Blood Oath. That will be all everyone."

Everyone watched as Heathcliff walked off the stage and left. The crowd dispersed with everyone chatting about all the sudden changes to the assault team that had just been made. Ren and his guild all looked at each other.

"I'm still not sure about this" Alice said. "I mean, we all know this guy's strong but nobody seems to have heard of him. He's a complete mystery"

"You're not wrong about that, Alice" Ren nodded. "But for now I think this will probably be the best course of action. At the very least, I doubt his goal is to sabotage the assault team in any way."

Helios stretched his arms out. "Well sitting here and talking about it isn't going to do anything. Who's up to kicking some monster ass?"

"Seriously Helios? Aren't you tired from last night's fight at all?" Riku asked.

"Yeah right. That guy's too stupid to realize when he's tired" Mai said with a roll of her eyes.

"What was that squirt?!" Helios growled as he brought the young brunette in for a noggy.

"Let go of me jackass!" Mai yelled as she struggled to break free.

"Helios, let go of her" Alice said with a glare.

"Hey, she started it!" Helios argued.

Ren sighed as he watched the sight unfold. They really were an odd group. At a glance, you'd never expect them to be such a great team. But even still, Ren couldn't imagine the group without a single one of them. This was what Wyvern Inferno was.

 **A/N: I apologize that this chapter was mostly a repeat of another former I Will Not Bow chapter, but I felt it was one I needed to add. The next few chapters will be all original so don't worry.**


	8. Love Advice

**A/N: Hey guys. Don't really have anything to say this chapter, so I'll let you guys get straight to reading.**

The sun was beginning to descend in Aincrad's digital sky. Parties of players were beginning to come back from leveling up in the fields for the day. Ren and his guild had already returned. He told them to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day, since he had a personal errand to attend to.

As Ren walked into the café on Floor 28, he could see a few people still around. It was a fairly popular shop for players to get a drink to wake them up in the morning, which made it perfect for a private conversation in the late afternoon. Ren wasn't here for the gourmet however. He had a different reason for coming here. After Ren took a seat at one of the booths, that reason walked into the store. Ren waved over to Asuna as she scanned the café for him.

"Sorry to take up your time, Asuna. I know you're probably busy with all your duties as second-in-command of the Knights of the Blood Oath."

"No it's fine, really" Asuna assured him. "I'm actually meeting someone else here later and I've finished all the work I have to do for the guild today."

"I'm still surprised how quickly you guys have built up yourselves." Ren said. "The Knights of the Blood Oath are already the top guild in SAO, and it's only been a month or two since you guys formed."

"Well the Commander has done a good job of gathering the best players SAO has to offer." Asuna explained. "But enough about me and the Knights. What did you call me out here for, Ren?"

Ren grew a bit nervous as he finally had to say what was on his mind. "Well… I kinda wanted to ask your advice on a… personal matter?"

Asuna's eyes narrowed at this. "What kind of personal matter?"

"Well… there's this girl I sorta like. The thing is, I don't know how to tell her how I feel?"

"It's Alice, isn't it?"

Ren cheeks quickly went to a full out blush as Asuna said this. "… Is it really that obvious?"

Asuna giggled at her friend's flustered face. "Oh come on Ren. I've seen the way you look at her. Although I don't think she's noticed yet"

Ren sighed as he planted his face on the table. "What am I going to do? Lately I haven't been able to get her out of my head"

"Come on Ren. Where's that calm and collected head of yours that you always have?"

"Flirting has never been something I'm good at, both in the real and virtual world"

"Just have some confidence Ren. I know you can do it" Asuna assured him. "Just tell Alice how you feel"

Ren narrowed his eyes at her. "And what if she says no?"

"She won't. Trust me, I bet she likes you just as much as you like her"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Call it a woman's intuition" Asuna grinned. _'There's also the fact that it's so obvious she likes you too'_

Ren sighed as he leaned back against his chair. "So how exactly am I supposed to tell her how I feel? I can't say it in front of the whole guild and she and I are almost never alone together."

"Try going on a quest with just the two of you sometime. It'll be the perfect opportunity for you two to get closer and then you can confess your feelings to her."

Ren thought about it. A quest with just the two of them. It definitely would be a good chance for him to tell Alice how he felt about her. "Ok, I'll try it."

"Good luck Ren" Asuna smiled as she gave him a thumbs up. "I know you'll do great"

"Thanks Asuna. Sorry to take up your time" Ren said as he waved goodbye.

"See you later Ren"

Asuna leaned back against her chair. She was still meeting one other person here and she doubted either her or Ren knew they were both meeting with her. It was almost too funny. Finally after a few minutes, the second person she was waiting for arrived. Asuna waved over to her from her seat. "Hey Alice! Over here!"

Alice noticed Asuna waving over to her and walked over to the chestnut haired girl, taking a seat at the booth with her. "Hey Asuna. Sorry for asking you to meet on such short notice"

"Anything for a friend" Asuna smiled. In the back of her mind she already knew the answer to the question she was about to ask but she asked it anyway. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Alice blushed a little before answering. "There's a small problem I have"

"And that is?"

"… I think I'm in love with Ren"

Asuna grinned at this. "Alice, that's not a problem. It's great that you've found someone you like"

"But how are he and I supposed to become a couple?!" Alice argued. "I mean he's always so busy with his responsibilities as a guild leader. He's probably too busy to be in a relationship"

"That's not true. I bet Ren would love to go out with you." Asuna needed to choose her words carefully. She couldn't let Alice know that she knew Ren was interested or she'd have to admit that she talked to Ren earlier. All she needed to do was give Alice the small push she needed.

Alice thought to herself for a bit, pondering whether Asuna was right or not. "I don't know…"

"Trust me. Just try getting him alone with you and tell him how you feel."

"You really think so?"

"You bet"

"… Alright, I'll try it. Thanks Asuna" Alice said as she got up and left.

"Anytime. Tell me how it goes" Asuna said as she waved goodbye. Once Alice left, Asuna couldn't help but giggle to herself. _'Geez, how can those two not realize they like each other? It's so obvious. Well, I guess it doesn't matter as long as they finally confess their feelings for each other. Oh they'll make such a cute couple!'_

XXXXXXXXXXX

The fields of Floor 30 were covered in snow. Blizzards that occurred every so often made it hard to see. As a result, locating the dungeons on the floor was tricky. Inside the dungeons it was even worse. Temperatures were well below freezing and the constant snowfall made it nearly impossible for players to tell where they were going if they didn't have their map out.

The dungeon Ren and the rest of Wyvern Inferno was currently exploring was a large mountain. Several interconnecting caves made up the interior of it while the outside consisted of steep thin ledges. They needed to watch their footing if they were to make it through this place.

"Brrr, it's FREEZING here!" Mai complained as she shivered. She and the rest of the guild were equipped with coats that had a high cold resistance. It weakened their overall stats, but it made the harsh weather bearable.

"What the hell was Kayaba thinking when he designed this floor?" Helios asked. "It's too cold to even focus on where we're going"

"We'll just have to grin and bear it" Ren said. "If we don't clear this floor, we'll never make it back to the real world"

"Ren's right. We can do this" Riku nodded. "We've been through tougher things than a little cold"

The guild continued scaling the mountain. There weren't many monsters spawning on the outside ledge areas due to the small area of space, leaving most of the fights to take place inside the caves of the mountain. As they walked through yet another cave, one of the indoor monster spawns appeared. The mob consisted entirely out of Snow Goblins. As the name suggested, they were goblins that appeared in icy areas. Their skin was a pale blue and crystals of ice sprouted from their shoulders and back. Their weapons were large clubs that could smash through weak defenses easily.

Ren and the group got into their battle stances. "Take 'em out guys!"

"Right!" everyone nodded.

Ren sped at several goblins in front of him, ducking as one of them swung their club at him. He took the opportunity to attack with an AoE sword skill, cutting down the HP of the goblins around him. Once the goblins regained their balance from being blown back slightly, they all charged in to bash the guild leader, but Ren jumped into the air as he felt his body able to move again. The cloud of snow that was created from the impact of the multiple clubs smashing down at where he was standing a moment ago told Ren that getting hit by those was not something he wanted. As he landed back on the ground, Ren quickly slashed through his opponents, cutting down their health before they had the chance to strike.

Alice desperately tried to hold back two goblins as they attempted to push her back. Their clubs were pushing down on the handle of Alice's scythe while she desperately tried to fight back. She finally found a strong footing in the snow and pushed them back. As they charged at her, Alice swung her scythe upwards and knocked their weapons into the air. "Now Mai! Switch!"

"You got it sis!" Mai shouted as she ran past her sister and attacked the two goblins with a sword skill from her rapier. The attack was enough to rip apart the HP of the enemies as they shattered into fragments. Riku took care of any stragglers with his dagger.

Helios had no trouble overpowering the goblins with his axe. He pushed the monsters back and took care of them in one fell swoop with the use of a powerful wide range sword skill. Helios smashed his axe into the ground, creating a shockwave that blew the goblins back and made them crash into the wall of the cave. One lone goblin survived and charged at Helios with an angry cry. Helios merely grinned as he swatted away the attack with his axe and then delivered a powerful punch to the goblin, taking out the rest of its health.

With the mob destroyed, Ren and the others sheathed their weapons and continued moving on through the dungeon. Ren looked at his map to try and figure out the best path to take. They had fully mapped out about seventy percent of the dungeon. The interconnecting caves made up a complex maze of passageways. The most Ren could assume was that either the dungeon boss, or maybe even the door to the floor boss if they were lucky enough, would be at the summit.

As they walked, Ren couldn't help glancing at Alice every now and then. The talk he had with Asuna yesterday was still nagging at him. _'If only I could get her alone. But even then, what the heck am I supposed to say?'_

"Ren? You ok?" Alice asked.

Ren snapped out of his thoughts and back into reality. "Y-Yeah. I'm fine"

"Geez, keep it together man" Helios sighed. "If you start zoning out, we're all screwed."

Despite his attitude, Helios was right. Ren knew that if he didn't keep his head focused on the dungeon they were in, it could end very badly for all of them.

Another half hour or so passed by fairly quickly. Looking towards the end of the passageway Ren and the others were walking in, there was a bright light.

"Sweet! It's the exit!" Mai exclaimed.

"Hopefully this will bring us closer to the summit" Helios said as he stretched out his arms.

Everyone ran towards the light at the end of the tunnel. When they finally exited the cave, the guild was surprised with a beautiful sight. The snow around them was pure white. The blizzard that had ravaged them along the way was gone and was replaced by a light snowfall. There weren't any monsters around, or any caves for that matter. The guild cheered in unison at what this meant.

"We finally made it to the summit!" Alice cheered.

"That took forever" Riku said with a relieved sigh.

"Something's not right though" Ren pointed, holding his hand around his chin in thought. "There should be a boss or at least some sort of treasure chest here"

The guild looked around, realizing that Ren was right. Outside of the scenery, there was nothing there.

"Strange… This IS the summit, isn't it?" Alice asked to nobody in particular. Suddenly, she felt the snow beneath her feet begin to cave in. A large crevice opened up below her and she felt herself fall. "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Alice!" Mai exclaimed.

Alice gripped her hand on the end of the crevice in a desperate attempt to keep herself from falling. It was no good however as she felt her hand slip. Before she fell, Alice felt a grip lock onto her arm. She looked up to see Ren holding onto her, struggling to not fall in with her.

"Ren, let go! You'll fall too!" Alice exclaimed.

"No way! I'm not letting go! Not in a million years!" Ren shouted back.

Alice's eyes widened as she watched Ren struggle to hold onto her. "Ren…"

"Hang on guys! We're coming!" Helios yelled as he rushed to their side.

Ren desperately tried to pull Alice up as Helios and the rest of the guild rushed to them. Before they could reach the two of them however, Ren's footing slipped and he and Alice fell into the crevice below.

 **A/N: Bum, bum, BUM! Cliffhanger! What will happen next? You guys will just have to wait for the next chapter to find out. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review.**


	9. Thawing the Heart

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry this took so long to get out. This chapter took a lot longer than I thought it would. I have a feeling all you RenXAlice fans are going to like it though.**

Ren felt his consciousness slowly begin to come back to him. He was lying on his back on a bed of snow. He was no longer outside on the summit, but instead in a deep cavern with the light of the sky far above him, probably about as high as a skyscraper. The odd part was the feeling of a weight crushing down on him.

"Ugh… what happened?"

Ren finally looked at the weight on his chest and saw Alice lying on top of him. She was slowly beginning to come to as well. Alice opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. "Where am I?"

"That's what I'd like to know" Ren said.

Alice quickly looked down, just realizing Ren was there. She quickly got off her guild leader with her cheeks blushing. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't realize-"

"It's alright. What's important right now is that we're still alive" Ren told her. He got to his feet and looked up. "I doubt the others would be able to hear us even if we shouted, and we can't message them since we're in a dungeon. Teleporting out is probably our best option."

"Right" Alice nodded. She pulled out a teleport crystal and held it into the air. "Teleport! Gleipnir!" A few seconds passed by with nothing happening, so Alice tried it again. "Teleport! Gleipnir!"

Ren sighed as he tilted his head down. "Great, an anti-crystal zone. Just what we needed"

"Wh-What are we gonna do, Ren?" Alice asked nervously.

Ren looked around the cavern and pointed to an opening. "There's a path over there. If we follow it, it'll probably lead us to an area where we can use our crystals."

Alice nodded in agreement and the two of them began walking into the inner caverns. This was unlike the mountain they had just spent all day scaling. Ren and Alice were entirely inside a cave area, instead of going in and out of several caves.

As they walked Ren couldn't help but think of what Asuna had told him yesterday. Getting Alice alone and telling her how he felt. _'Should I tell her now that it's just the two of us?'_ Ren quickly shook the thought out of his head. _'Don't be stupid! I need to focus on getting the two of us out of this dungeon, not working on some crush!'_

Alice had similar thoughts flowing through her head. _'I wish I could talk to Ren, but we're too busy trying to get through this dungeon. Ugh, why can't I just keep him out of my head?!'_

Ren stopped abruptly as they walked. Several monsters began to spawn around them, all of them Snow Goblins. Ren and Alice brought out their weapons and got ready to fight.

"This is gonna be a little harder without the others" Alice groaned.

"No use complaining about it. We'll just have to fight our way through." Ren told her. "I'll take the lead, then you follow up"

"Got it"

Ren charged forward at three of the goblins. He waited for them to swing there clubs down before he jumped back to avoid it. He delivered a slash to each of them while they were stunned and called out to his teammate. "Now Alice! Switch!"

Alice dashed forward as Ren leaped back. He scythe lit up with an orange glow and the curved blade of the weapon extended to double its usual length. Alice hooked her scythe around the waists of all three goblins and cleaved them in half with a fierce yank. "Definitely worth leveling up my scythe skill" she muttered to herself with a grin.

"Alice look out!" Ren yelled as he dashed past her and slashed another Snow Goblin in half before it could swing its weapon down at her. The two players stood back to back as the last four Snow Goblins surrounded them. "Geez, these things never give up"

The four Snow Goblins all leaped at the two players simultaneously. Ren and Alice desperately tried to hold them back as their clubs pushed down on their weapons. Alice could feel herself losing the battle of strength. "Ren, if you've got a plan now would be a great time to use it"

"Working on it" Ren grumbled as he felt himself being pushed back as well. He racked his brain for a plan to take down these monsters. Finally a light bulb went off in his head. "Alice, let them push you back a bit more"

"What? But then they'll squash us together."

"Exactly. While our backs are touching, use me as a support and use a martial arts skill on them."

Alice nodded and did as Ren said, letting her feet slide back a bit further. Once her back hit Ren's he gave the order. "Now!"

Alice brought her right foot up as it became veiled in a violet light. She swung her leg sideways, knocking both Snow Goblins on her side off balance for a brief moment. Alice took the opportunity to deliver a relentless attack with her scythe and take out their HP. Once the two monsters shattered, she jumped in to help Ren. One fierce swing of her scythe was all she needed to decapitate the monsters attacking Ren as they both shattered into fragments. With all of the mob gone, Ren and Alice collapsed onto the snowy ground.

"These things put up way more of a fight when it's just the two of us" Alice said as she tried to catch her breath.

Ren nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'll have to be a lot more careful from here on"

Ren and Alice continued their trek through the caverns. Every few minutes or so, they would test their teleport crystals to see if they would work, but every time yielded the same result. Finally Ren and Alice saw a light leading outside.

"An exit!" Alice exclaimed. "Maybe we'll finally be able to teleport out!"

Ren and Alice sprinted towards the exit of the caverns. When they exited, they found themselves in a large field of snow. It was similar to the summit in terms of how light the snowfall was and how pretty the scenery looked, although the rocky walls around them made it very clear that this wasn't the summit and that they were still in the caverns. It was still quite beautiful though as white flowers were blooming in the fields.

"Wow! It's so pretty!" Alice said in awe.

"The main question though is will our teleport crystals finally work" Ren pointed out. He took out the blue crystal and held it up into the air. "Teleport! Gleipnir!" A few seconds passed by with nothing happening and Ren lowered his head with a sigh. "So much for that"

Looking up into the sky, Alice could see night was approaching. The time shown at the top area of her vision told her the same thing. "What are we gonna do? It'll be dark soon"

Ren looked at the area around them. "Well I think we're in a safe zone right now since there aren't any monsters here. We might be able to just camp here for the night."

"Shouldn't we focus on finding a way back to town though?"

"If we walk around when its night out, we could end up running into a massive ambush of monsters" Ren pointed out. "It's probably safest if we stay here until morning."

Alice mulled it over for a moment before nodding in agreement. She wasn't a big fan of sleeping out in the cold, but Ren was right. Walking around in the dark could end up getting both of them killed.

Luckily Ren had some basic camping equipment in his item storage for rare situations like this. The items included a sleeping bag and pile of firewood which would stay lit for about half a day once activated. Other than some bites of food, that was all he had. Alice also had a sleeping bag in her storage. Most front lines players did. You never knew whether you might be forced to spend the night in the fields when you were on the front lines.

Ren started up the fire, which was extremely simple. All he had to do once manifesting the wood from his inventory was tap on it and select 'Light'. Once he did so, a small fire began crackling in the pile of wood. Ren sat on the snowy ground and tossed a roll of bread over to Alice. "Here"

"Thanks" Alice said as she caught the food and began eating. The two of them sat in a weird silence as they ate. Both of them wanted to talk to each other and tell the other how they felt about them, but neither one could find the right words.

' _Maybe I should just slowly ease into it'_ Alice thought. "Hey Ren?"

"What's up?"

"Well… have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

Ren coughed as he choked on his bread from the question. He quickly took a sip of the water container he had on him. "Wh-What makes you ask that all of a sudden?"

"I-I was just curious" Alice said with her cheeks slightly blushing. "So… have you?"

Ren rubbed the back of his head as he sighed. "No. I've never exactly been Mr. Popular in the real world"

"Really?" Alice asked. The way Ren was describing himself, he didn't sound anything like the person she had come to know in SAO.

"I believe I told you once before, didn't I? Back in the real world I was really shy and not very sociable. Outside of the close childhood friends I had, I barely talked to anyone."

Alice watched as Ren formed a sad smile on his face. She clenched her fists in frustration. _'Great, now I've made him think about bad memories. Nice going Alice'_

"It's alright though. I'm fine with not being popular" Ren sighed as he leaned back and looked up into the sky. "I've always been a nerdy gamer, and I doubt that's ever gonna change. It's just who I am"

Alice looked at Ren in wonder. Just how was he able to be so… incredible? He never let his inner demons show and always dealt with them on his own. How was it that he was so strong?

"What about you, Alice?" Ren asked. "Have you ever had a boyfriend before?"

Alice shook her head. "No. I've had a few childhood crushes here and there, but I never really found the right guy for me"

"I see" Ren said. "And what kind of guy is the 'right guy'?"

Alice soon found her cheeks blushing at the question Ren asked. "Um… well I… you tell me first!"

"Wh-What?!"

"You tell me what's your type of girl!"

"I-I asked you first!" Ren argued as he began to blush as well.

Ren and Alice stared at each other with blushing faces. After a few moments of silence, they decided to just drop the subject and go to bed. Both of them got into their sleeping bags and rested near the fire.

' _Damnit… why can't I just work up the courage and tell her how I feel already?!'_

' _Why couldn't I have just said "You're my type Ren" and finally admit that I like him?!'_

Both of their heads flowed with these thoughts as they drifted off to sleep.

-Later that night-

The fire was still burning but the howling winds of the mountain blew through the field. Ren found himself chilly as he huddled inside his sleeping bag even more. _'We couldn't get stuck in a cave on a tropical island. Nope, it just HAD to be on a freezing cold mountain!'_

As Ren tried to endure the freezing cold, he heard a shivering sound coming from nearby. He looked over to see Alice having an even worse time with the cold than him.

Alice wrapped her arms around her body, desperately trying to fight the cold winds. "Achoo!" She wondered how the others were doing. Were Mai and the others alright? Surely they were able to tell that she and Ren were still alive. If they were dead, their names would have been erased from the guild list and everywhere else. But right now, Alice was too busy trying to deal with the cold.

Suddenly, Alice felt something cover her. She opened her eyes and looked at the object placed over her. It was a blanket. Alice didn't even need to guess who put it over her as she looked over to see Ren walking back over to his sleeping bag.

"Ren…"

The guild leader looked back over towards Alice. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you"

"What about you though?"

"Don't worry. I'm not that cold" Ren lied. He tucked back under his sleeping bag, but Alice could see him shivering before a minute even passed by.

Alice slowly worked up the courage to finally say something she had been afraid of saying ever since they went to sleep. "Ren… I-If you want… you c-could sleep here w-w-with me" Ren quickly jerked his head over to Alice in surprise with his cheeks blushing brighter than ever. Alice quickly rephrased her statement. "I-I meant so we could s-stay warm! I-It's really cold out here and… look, do you want to or not?"

Ren didn't know how to respond. More than anything, he wanted to. He really wanted to. But would that be the right thing to do? "A-Are you sure?"

"W-Well we both have to be in top condition if we're gonna make it out of here"

After a minute or so of thinking it over, Ren got out of his sleeping bag and walked over to Alice. The female player opened up her sleeping bag and the two of them tucked under it together. Both of their cheeks were scarlet red right now.

"W-W-Well… good night" Alice finally managed to say as she closed her eyes.

Ren nodded and closed his eyes as well. "Yeah… Good night"

XXXXXXXXXX

Mai stared at the Swordsman's Monument in the Town of Beginnings on Floor 1. The names of all ten thousand players that logged onto Sword Art Online on day one were inscribed on it in alphabetical order. Certain names on the stone monument were crossed out. Those were the players that had died. She kept looking back at two of the names, the ones reading 'Ren' and 'Alice'. Both were still alive, but she didn't know for how long that would last.

The second they got back to town, Mai and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno looked at their list of guild members and saw that Ren and Alice were still there. Needless to say, it was a relief for all of them. But the fact that they were still in the dungeon worried her. Why hadn't they teleported back to town? Were they trapped? Could one of them be dying right now? Mai had teleported to the Town of Beginnings and stayed at the Swordsman's Memorial inside the Black Iron Palace, not leaving for even a moment.

' _Please'_ Mai prayed. _'Let them both make it back alive'_

A sudden hand on her shoulder made Mai turn around to see Helios and Riku right behind her. Usually this would be the part where Helios would tease her and call her squirt or some other condescending name. But he was too worried about his friends' safety to make fun of her.

"They'll be fine, Mai. Don't worry" Riku assured her.

"I'm just so scared" Mai said with a tear rolling down her eye. "What if they-"

"They'll be fine" Helios interrupted.

"How can you be so sure?!" Mai yelled at him. "Maybe you can act nonchalant about this but I can't! Alice is all I have left, and for all I know she could be dying as we speak! I'm scared Helios so just-" Mai was cut off as Helios forcefully grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and lifted her into the air. He stared at Mai with a furious glare.

"They'll. Be. Fine." Helios told her in a stern voice. "Ren's a survivor. There's no way he'll let himself or Alice die, got that?! So shut up and stop talking about them dying!"

Mai managed to nod her head while somewhat shocked at Helios's sudden outburst. Helios tossed her onto the cold hard ground and stormed off. Riku sighed as he helped Mai to her feet.

"I've never seen him like that" Mai said in a surprised tone.

"He tries to hide it most of the time, but Helios is really loyal to his friends" Riku told her. "Trust me, he's just as worried as you. But right now we need to trust that Ren and Alice can make it out of there"

Mai gave a reluctant nod as she walked out of the Black Iron Palace with her guildmate.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun shined onto Ren's eyes as morning extended its reach across the sky. He slowly opened his eyes and found the snowy field he and Alice were in was much less cold now that it was morning. He also felt something that was radiating heat onto him. Ren looked to see Alice asleep in the same sleeping bag as him.

' _Oh right… that happened'_

Ren wished he could just slip out of the sleeping bag without waking Alice but right now that was impossible. She was sleeping so peacefully and more importantly she was snuggled up next to him. Now that he realized it, he also had his arm around her. Wait, why did he have his arm around her?!

As he was thinking about how to get out of this situation, Alice let out a soft and adorable yawn as she stretched her arms out and opened her eyes. As her vision cleared up, she noticed Ren blushing at her. Once Alice recalled what had happened last night, her cheeks lit up red as well. Both players quickly got out of the position they were in and slipped out of the sleeping bag.

"G-Good morning, Ren" Alice finally managed to choke out.

"Y-Yeah. Morning Alice" Ren nodded. He quickly went over and put his empty sleeping bag into his inventory. The fire had only about an hour's worth of durability left so Ren decided to leave it be. He could just buy a fresh one when they got back to town.

As Ren put his stuff away, Alice did the same. Her head was swarming with thoughts about last night. _'Why did I offer to let Ren sleep with me?! More importantly, why did I have to enjoy it so much?! Gah, I'm so STUPID!'_

After they had put everything back in their inventory and re-equipped their weapons, Ren pointed over towards an opening into the mountain. "I guess we should go this way. It's the only other path other than the way we came here after all."

"R-Right. Let's get going then" Alice nodded. The two of them set off and continued moving through the mountain. Hopefully they would be able to get out of here today.

The cold wasn't as fierce inside the caves as compared to how it was in the field last night. Ren and Alice ran into a few mobs here and there, but they had gotten an effective rhythm going between them as they fought.

As the two players walked through the caves, Ren was constantly thinking about last night. _'What the hell is wrong with me?! I should've just stayed in my own sleeping bag, not crawled into Alice's! Ugh, why do I have to keep thinking about her now of all times?! I should be focusing on the two of us getting out of here!'_

"Hey um… Ren" Alice said, snapping Ren out of his thoughts. "Th-Thanks for being with me last night. I was a little scared and well… you made me feel a lot safer" _'Wait, why did I say that? Gah, STUPID!'_

"N-No problem" Ren said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Glad I could help" _'Glad I could help? What am I saying?!'_

Before the two of them could continue making things feel even weirder, they came across a large set of doors. Judging by the look of them, it didn't seem to be the ones for the floor boss room, but it still set off alarm bells in both Ren's and Alice's heads.

Ren and Alice looked at each other. If they went in there, a boss fight would almost definitely occur. Could they really do it with just the two of them? Ren brought out a teleport crystal just to check that they couldn't teleport out right now. After testing it out and failing miserably, Ren sighed and put the item away. "Great. A boss fight with just the two of us. This oughta be fun"

"Are you sure about this Ren?" Alice asked.

"There weren't any other diverging paths. This is the only way out" Ren told her. "We need to be at the top of our game if we're gonna do this. You ready?"

Alice nodded and brought out her scythe. "Let's do this"

Ren and Alice opened the doors together and walked inside. The room inside was cylindrical. Walls made purely of ice surrounded them, making it seem like they were in a tower. A spiral staircase sprung out from the wall, leading up to the top where sunlight was shining. The odd part was that the boss they assumed to be waiting for them was nowhere to be found.

"What's going on? Where's the boss?" Alice asked aloud.

Suddenly the doors behind them slammed shut. Ren and Alice felt the ground around them shake. Then the snow beneath them began to cave in.

"Climb the stairs! Hurry!" Ren yelled. The two of them made a breakneck run for the staircase and began running up them. As they ran, Ren could see the staircase begin to crumble apart behind them. Then the thing that really got his attention showed up. Beneath the snowy ground at the bottom, a large monster began to come into view.

The beast was a large bird monster. It was hard to see from the snow falling around it, but its body seemed to be armored with ice. It let out a frightening cry that echoed throughout the tower.

"We're in big trouble if that thing catches up to us" Ren said. "We need to move fast!"

Ren and Alice quickly ran up the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them. Every now and then, the room would shake, but they were able to manage enough to keep themselves from losing their balance and falling to certain death. As they ran, Ren looked down and saw the gigantic bird flap both of its wings, sending spears of ice rocketing towards him and Alice. "Look out!"

Alice felt Ren yank on her arm and stop her just as one of the spears of ice shot up and destroyed a portion of the stairs, nearly taking her with it. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought how close she was to dying if Ren hadn't stopped her. But now was definitely not the time to stay still a she heard the bird let out another loud cry. She leaped across the broken portion of the stairs along with Ren and continued running.

"We're almost there! Keep going!" Ren told her.

The sunlight at the top slowly became closer and closer to Alice's grasp. Soon she and Ren would be out of the god forsaken caverns.

"SCREEEEEEEEEECCCCCHHHHH!"

The ear piercing shriek made Ren and Alice cover their ears in pain. Looking down at the bottom, Ren widened his eyes in fear. "Alice, we might have a problem"

A sinking feeling of dread overcame Alice as she hesitantly looked down. Her eyes obtained the same look of fear Ren had as she saw the giant monster bird begin to fly up towards them, with the stairs shattering as it passed by. Alice and Ren quickly picked up the pace. If that bird got to them while they were still climbing, they'd be dead for sure.

' _Just a little further'_ Alice told herself as she felt her legs ache in pain from all the running she had done. When she reached the peak of the staircase, she leaped away from the pit along with Ren just as the bird flew into the air. A gust of snow blew past them as they fell onto the snowy ground.

"You alright, Alice?" Ren asked.

"Yeah. For now" Alice said as she took a quick moment to catch her breath. She didn't have long to do so however as the bird was now circling over them in the air. "So, any ideas on how to beat this thing?"

"I'm open to suggestions at the moment."

Now out of the pit, Ren was able to get a much better look at their opponent. Its feathers were light blue and snowy white. Clear frozen ice acted as armor that covered the boney end of its wings as well as the face. Two health bars were next to its cursor which read its name, Blizza the Snow Hawk.

"Get ready, Alice" Ren said as he got into his battle stance.

"You got it" Alice nodded as she got ready to fight as well.

Blizza flapped both of its wings and sent a wave of snow at Ren and Alice. As the two players tried to endure the snowstorm currently assaulting them, Blizza flew down at them and prepared to go for a more direct attack. It zoomed past Ren and Alice with both of its wings stretched out. As Blizza escalated back into the air, it felt something standing on its back. As Ren flew on the boss's back, he stabbed his sword into its body. The boss cried out in pain as it flew around wildly.

"Ren, hang on!" Alice called out from the ground. Once the boss came down low enough, she leaped into the air and swung her Twin Ripper into the boss's wing. Ren yanked out his sword and leaped off the boss as it crashed into the snowy ground.

"That was by far the craziest rollercoaster I've ever ridden" Ren said as he got to his feet and tried to shake the dizziness out of his head. Once his head stopped spinning, he sped towards the boss along with Alice. Both of their weapons lit up with light as they got in close. Ren started things off as he slashed through the boss's body. He circled around the boss, delivering a powerful slash to each side, creating a perfect square with the four-hit skill Horizontal Square. He leaped back as Alice came in. "Switch!"

Alice traded places with Ren and went on the offensive. She hopped on top of the boss's back and hooked her scythe around its neck. One powerful yank made the curved blade rip through the neck and bring Blizza down to its last HP bar. She kicked off the boss and landed next to Ren. "That thing's a lot more durable than it looks."

"And now it's probably gonna start fighting seriously" Ren added as he prepared for the incoming attack from the boss, who was now getting back up.

A flap of Blizza's wings sent several icicles flying at Ren and Alice. The two of them knocked away the sharp spears of ice with their weapons. As the ice shattered, chunks of it scratched against their avatars and cut their HP by a small amount. Before they could counter attack, Blizza rushed the two players and grabbed them with its talons. Ren and Alice struggled to break free from the boss's grip as they flew higher and higher in the air. Ren finally managed to break his arm loose and stabbed his sword into Blizza's leg. The boss screeched as it let Ren and Alice go. The two of them began to plummet towards the ground. As they fell, Ren grabbed Alice's hand and brought her in close. He used himself as a cushion as they crashed into the snowy ground.

"Ren, are you alright?!" Alice exclaimed as she looked at Ren groan in pain. She looked at Ren's health bar and saw it was in the red. "Why did you do that? You could have died!"

Ren grabbed a health potion from his belt and began to gulp it down, recovering his HP back to a safe amount. "It didn't really think about it. My body sort of moved on its own, like an instinct."

Alice helped Ren get to his feet as they both stood up. While his HP was in the green once again, she could easily see how exhausted he was. He had been so busy keeping both of them safe, so it wasn't hard to believe. But right now, they had a boss to deal with.

"Leave the rest to me, Ren. I've got this" Alice told her guild leader as she grasped her scythe tightly in her hands.

"No way. I'm not letting you fight that thing alone" Ren said.

"You're exhausted Ren. You can't fight in your condition"

"But-"

"Trust me. I can handle this thing" Alice said with a fierce determination in her eyes. _'You've done enough Ren. It's time for me to keep you safe for a change'_

Alice charged at the boss as it flew towards her. She leaped over it as it swooped down at her and landed on its back. Alice ripped her scythe into the boss's back and let the blade run across it to the end as she hopped off. As she hovered in the air for a brief moment, Blizza summoned a powerful gust of snow that sent Alice crashing into the ground with a powerful thud. She was going to let this stop her though as she ran at the boss yet again. She leaped into the air yet again, but this time it was her fist that was lit up with the light of a skill instead of her scythe.

"Take this!"

Alice swung her fist down onto the head of the bird and smashed it into the ground. Just as Alice thought she had delivered the final blow, the boss shook her off and let out a powerful cry. It dived its beak down at Alice, ready to finish her off. Before it could reach its target however, a swift stream of light passed by Alice and ripped through the boss, cutting down the small amount of HP it had left. Alice stared in shock as she watched Blizza shatter into fragments and saw Ren standing across from her, sheathing his sword onto his back.

"See? Told you I could still…" the rest of the statement died on Ren's tongue as he fell down onto one knee.

"Ren!" Alice exclaimed. She rushed over to him as he began to breathe a bit more heavily. "Are you alright?!"

"Yeah" Ren said with a nod. "I'm just a little tired."

"Geez" Alice sighed. "Don't scare me like that"

"Don't worry. I'll be fine" Ren told her. After a few minutes of rest to catch his breath, Ren was back on his feet. He stretched out his arms and looked around them. "Well at least we're out of those caverns. Hopefully that means we can teleport out now"

As Ren reached for a teleport crystal, Alice recalled the advice Asuna had given her before. _"Just try getting him alone and tell him how you feel"_

' _I've put this off for long enough'_ Alice told herself as she steeled her resolve. _'It's now or never'_ Alice reached out her hand and grabbed Ren's arm before he could grab his teleport crystal. Ren looked at her in confusion.

"What's wrong? Is something up Alice?" Ren asked.

"Ren… there's something I need to tell you" Alice said. "For a while now… all I've been able to think about is you. No matter how hard I try to get you out of my head, you're always there. Last night when we were out in the cold, you helped try to keep me warm without even thinking about yourself. Ren, what I'm trying to say is… I think I like-"

Alice was interrupted as Ren leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Her scarlet eyes widened for a brief moment, but soon closed as she became trapped in the moment between the two of them. When their lips finally separated, they were both blushing.

Through his blushing though Ren gave her a smile. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you like that"

"R-Ren… I…" Alice couldn't find the right words to say so she let her actions do the talking as she wrapped her arms around Ren and kissed him right back. "I can't tell you how much that means to me"

After the two of them finished kissing, Ren took out his teleport crystal from his belt. "You ready to go home?"

Alice smiled as she gave him a nod and took out a teleport crystal of her own. "Yeah. Let's go home" They both raised their crystals into the air and called out their destination as they held hands.

"Teleport! Gleipnir!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Mai sat on a bench in the town on Floor 30. Gleipnir looked kind of what storybooks described the North Pole to look like. Stone houses lined the streets. Shops and vendors sold sweets such as cookies to people. A light snowfall was constantly overhead. If you ignored the cold, it was actually a pretty nice place. But right now Mai was too distracted on what Alice and Ren might be going through at the moment.

' _I can't just sit here and do nothing anymore!'_ Mai told herself. _'They've been gone way too long! I don't care what Helios and Riku say, I've gotta go save them!'_

Mai got off the bench and ran towards the town gate. She didn't have the slightest clue how she was supposed to save them, but she could figure that out later. _'Hang on sis. I'm coming'_

As Mai approached the town gate, she steeled her resolve even further. This was extremely risky and probably even a little stupid, but sitting around doing nothing felt even stupider to her. As she ran past the gate of the town, a sudden hand reached out and grabbed her by the back of the winter coat she had over her equipment.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Mai groaned as she recognized Helios's voice. "Let me go jackass! I've gotta go save them!"

"So you just planned to run off on your own into what's currently the most dangerous place of Aincrad right now, and go be a hero?"

"It's better than sitting around doing nothing!" Mai argued.

"You're absolutely right Mai" Riku said as he walked into view. "That's why we're not letting you go alone. We're going with you"

Mai looked at her two guildmates in surprise as they grinned in response. "You guys…" She wiped her eyes and nodded. "Alright, let's go save our friends!"

"It's a little late for that, you guys" a sudden voice said to them. Helios, Mai, and Riku all turned around in surprise to see Ren and Alice walking over with grins on their faces.

Mai gave herself a light pinch just to make sure she wasn't imagining this right now. Tears welled up in her eyes as she made a breakneck run for her sister. "Alice!"

"It's alright Mai. I'm here." Alice said soothingly as she embraced her sister. "Sorry I worried you"

"I-I was so scared!" Mai cried. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you!"

Ren smiled at the heartwarming sight. Helios and Riku ran over to their friends, happy to see them safe and sound. "Dude, where have you been?!"

"We kinda got trapped in an anti-crystal area" Ren explained. "It took forever to get out of there"

"I'm just glad your back" Mai said. "So what happened while you guys were trapped?"

Alice blushed slightly as she realized she and Ren were going to have to tell their friends about their new relationship. "Well… one thing in particular comes to mind"

"Really? What is it?" Mai asked. Alice leaned down and whispered into her ear, not wanting to have any prying ears in the streets hear. When she heard the news, Mai's eyes widened in shock. She looked at Ren, then back to Alice, then back to Ren once again. "You better take good care of my sister, you got that Ren?"

Ren chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "You got it Mai."

Helios and Riku looked at each other with their mouths opened wide, figuring out what had happened based on Mai's statement. Helios looked back towards Ren. "You're joking."

"Nope. Alice and I… well I guess you can say we're a couple now" Ren said.

Far away in the distance, Asuna was listening in on the conversation. She giggled to herself as she saw Ren and Alice holding hands. _'I knew they'd be cute together'_

 **A/N: Ok, before any of you start, I know this wasn't how it happened in the original, but like I said I am making a few changes here and there (Plus the original version doesn't really work out right with the new chapters of the Girl Ops manga that have been released). The changes I make won't effect the outcome of anything that happens later in the story so don't worry. I hope you all liked this version of Ren and Alice finally becoming a couple even more than the original. Next chapter will show the very first date. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out in less time than this one.**


	10. First Date

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. School has kept me really busy. But now it's time for the moment all of you Relice fans have been waiting for. The first date for Wyvern Inferno's first couple. Enjoy.**

Ren stood in the streets of Floor 27. It was getting close to noon and the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. Players populated the town, though most had already gone into the fields for the day. Ren and his guild would be doing the same right now if it wasn't for the fact that he told everyone to take the day off, as he had something he needed to do today. To be more precise, it was something he and Alice had to do today.

"Hey Ren!" Alice called out, waving as she ran over to him. She wasn't dressed in her usual combat equipment for fighting in the fields. Instead she wore a dark violet shirt and white shorts that revealed a large amount of her legs for the world to see. "Sorry. Did I keep you waiting?"

"No. I just got here a couple minutes ago" Ren told her. He wasn't dressed in his usual attire either. Instead of his red long coat, he wore a plain red shirt and a pair of brown pants. If either he or Alice went out into the fields with the current equipment they had on, they'd be destroyed by the monsters outside. But they had other plans today. Today was their first date as a couple.

"So… y-you want to get going?" Ren asked, trying to hide the nervousness he was feeling right now.

"Sure. Let's go" Alice nodded with an energetic smile. She grabbed Ren's arm and the two of them walked off to their destination.

About a week had passed since Ren and Alice had been trapped in the icy crevice on Floor 30. A week since the two of them had finally admitted their feelings to each other and became a couple. And today was their first date, not to mention the very first date either of them had been on in their entire lives.

Finally Ren and Alice reached their destination, a small ramen shop on Floor 27. While the size of the place was small, the food served was very good. As they walked inside, Ren noticed there weren't many players inside. He breathed a sigh of relief. Going on his first date was nerve wracking enough without an audience.

The couple took a seat together at a booth and a NPC waitress soon walked over to them. "Hello. What would you like to order?" As she said this, two windows popped up in front of Ren and Alice, listing the dishes available. Ren tapped his finger on the pork ramen while Alice went with miso ramen. Once their windows closed, the waitress gave a bow and said their dishes would be ready in a few minutes before walking away.

Ren and Alice sat across from each other and stared blankly into each other's eyes. Neither one could think of what to do or what to say, which made things awkward very quickly. Ren decided to start things off with the only thing he could think of saying. "You look really nice"

"Thanks" Alice replied with a small blush. "So… what made you think of this place for our date?"

"Well I figured it would be best to go somewhere that we wouldn't be swarmed with people. Plus there's something else nearby I wanted to show you"

"Something else?" Alice asked with her curiosity peaked. "And what would that be?"

"It's a surprise. You'll have to wait till later"

Alice gave a mocking pout, but it soon turned into a smile. It felt a little weird for both of them but she was truly enjoying the date. The NPC waitress soon returned and placed the two bowls of ramen down on the table. As Alice slurped the noodles into her mouth, she decided to change to a bold topic of conversation. "So, since we already know a lot about each other here in the game… should we talk about our real lives?"

The question caught Ren a little of guard. Asking someone about their lives in the real world was somewhat of a taboo in SAO. But Alice had a point. They pretty much knew everything about each other's lives in the game since they had spent every day together for almost the entirety of SAO. Besides if he had to talk about his real life to anyone, it would probably be Alice.

"Sure" Ren nodded. "I guess I'll start. What do you want to know?"

Alice thought to herself for a minute as she tried to figure out what to ask. "Hmm… oh I know! I'm dying to know how you and Helios became friends!"

Ren chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "That's a long and complicated story. To put it simply, Helios, Riku, and I all went to the same school. We met in middle school and the three of us sort of hit it off since we were all gamers. We've been friends ever since"

"I bet there's one heck of a story behind that"

"You have no idea" Ren sighed. "Well I guess it's my turn to ask a question."

"Alright. Shoot"

"When did you start liking me?"

Alice's face blushed scarlet at the question. "Th-That has nothing to do with the real world!"

"Would you rather me ask something embarrassing about your real life?" Ren asked with a teasing smile.

Alice decided to give in, choosing the lesser of two evils. "Well… I guess it started a few months ago. Back when the front lines were close to Floor 20. I just... started feeling differently about you. I guess you saving my life back when we first met had a lot to do with it." Alice smiled back on old memories at the last part. "Speaking of which, what about you?"

"Huh?"

"When did you start liking me?"

Now it was Ren's turn to feel flustered and embarrassed. "Um… well… Around Floor 12 or so, I think"

Alice giggled at the face Ren was making. "Aww, and you went all that time without saying anything?"

"I-I didn't know what to say"

Alice and Ren continued talking for a little longer until they had both finished their meal. After paying for the food, the couple walked outside. Ren grabbed Alice's hand. "Time for that surprise I told you about"

Ren led Alice through the streets of the town, holding her hand the entire way. They finally reached an area on the outskirts of the town where it was surprisingly unpopulated. They walked into an alleyway covered by the shadows.

"Ren? Where are we going?"

"We're almost there. This way" Ren ushered. They walked to the end of the alleyway, where a small crack of sunlight was shining from in between two buildings. Ren squirmed his way through the thin opening with Alice following right behind him. When they made it through to the other side, Alice's eyes widened in amazement.

A grassy plain covered the area. Some trees sprouted from the ground, providing shade from the sun. Most amazing of all, it was surrounded by buildings from the town, completely secluding it from the rest of town. It felt so serene and peaceful.

"This is amazing" Alice said in awe.

"I discovered this place about a month ago" Ren explained. "Very few people know about it. I like to come here to relax every now and then. I figured you might like it"

"It's so beautiful" Alice smiled as she lied down on the grass. Warm sunlight washed over her, making her feel completely at peace. "I can't believe you found such a quiet and secluded place."

Ren walked over to the center of the grassy area where a tree that was much larger than the rest stood. Alice got up from her lying position and went over to Ren. The male player was staring up at the branches of the tree.

"What are you looking at Ren?"

In response, Ren pointed up towards some fruit hanging on the branches. "The fruit there grows from the branches once a week, and it's really delicious. Wanna try some?"

Alice nodded her head. "Sure. But how are you gonna get it? It's pretty high up"

Ren smirked as he opened his menu and grabbed a throwing knife from his item storage. He aimed at the branch and threw the projectile. Even with his basically nonexistent knife throwing skill, he was able to hit the branch and send several fruits falling down towards the couple.

Ren and Alice each caught some of the fruit that fell. They were an orange color, but the shape wasn't like any fruit Alice had ever seen. She took a bite of the mysterious fruit. It tasted surprisingly sweet and Alice soon found herself eating the fruit in whole. "Wow, this is delicious!"

"Told you" Ren grinned.

Ren took a seat next to the base of the trunk of the tree. Alice soon took a seat next to him and stretched out her arms. The cozy shade she was in made her begin to feel drowsy. It was only about a minute before she drifted off to sleep along with Ren.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Ren opened his eyes and let out a yawn. As he rubbed his groggy eyes, he noticed the orange sky which indicated that it was getting late in the afternoon. Ren was about to get up when he noticed the weight on his shoulder. Looking to his left, he saw Alice fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

Usually having Alice so close to him would have made Ren blush. But now all he did was give a heartfelt smile. He couldn't describe the sensation he was feeling right now. Joy didn't seem strong enough, but it was the closest thing he could think of. Ren took his left arm and wrapped it around Alice, bringing her in closer. He rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes. This wasn't simply joy. This was peace.

"Mmmm?"

Ren lifted his head as he heard the murmur that came from Alice and watched as she woke up. The black haired girl yawned loudly as she stretched out her arms. She surveyed her surroundings as she tried to remember how she fell asleep.

"Sleep well?"

Alice looked over to Ren as he asked the question. She nodded with a smile. "Yeah. That felt great"

Ren got up from his sitting position and stretched his arms out. "Well, we should start heading back. Everyone's gonna start wondering where we are"

"Yeah" Alice agreed. "Last thing I need his having my sister tease me about staying out too late"

Suddenly the two of them heard the laughter of another player. "Your sister finding out is the least of your worries"

Ren and Alice looked up at the branches of one of the smaller trees to see Argo sitting casually as she gazed at the couple. The info broker gave a teasing smile at them. "Showing your girlfriend your secret spot, eh Ren? What's next? You gonna show her some secret moves in bed?"

"How the hell did you find us Argo?" Ren groaned as he and Alice blushed from her comment.

"Oh I've known about this place for a while now" Argo smirked. "But to answer your question, I tracked you guys to see if I could find any useful info to sell. And boy did I hit gold, finding out about a new couple on the front lines. Gossip lovers are going to eat this up"

"Argo, please don't tell anyone about this." Alice begged. "The last thing Ren and I need is getting mobbed by strangers asking about our relationship"

Argo giggled as she hopped down from the tree. "Relax. It was a joke." She skipped over to Ren and whispered in his ear. "I can still tell you her bust size if you want. I'll even throw in a discount"

Ren's face grew flustered as he heard her say this. "A-Argo!"

The info broker laughed, enjoying every moment of this. "Well as fun as this has been, I should get going. Don't do anything naughty you two"

After Argo left the secluded area, Ren and Alice let out a collective sigh of annoyance. Argo was a good friend so they could trust her to keep the fact that they were a couple a secret for now. Ren took Alice's hand and gestured to the small opening they came in from. "Well, let's head back"

"Hold on a second" Alice said. "There's still one more thing I forgot to do"

"What's th-" Ren was interrupted as Alice leaned in and kissed him on the lips. After their lips separated, she gave a heartfelt smile. "That was thanks for taking me here"

Ren smiled back as he and Alice walked back to the front lines hand in hand.

 **A/N: I know this chapter was kinda short, but I couldn't think of anything else to add. How did you guys like it? Please review and tell me.**


	11. A Really Stupid Boss

**A/N: Hello again readers. This chapter is a little special I made for two reasons.**

 **1) The next chapter might take me a little more time than usual so I wanted to give you guys this to keep you entertained until then.**

 **2) I wanted to spread the greatness of SWE's SAO Abridged to the few SAO fans that haven't seen it yet. (If you haven't, I HIGHLY recommend it)**

 **Disclaimer: The boss idea along with a fair amount of the dialogue lines in this chapter were inspired from SAO Abridged. I take no credit for the lines coming from it.**

Players were scattered around the meeting room on Floor 37. Everyone in attendance were from guilds that fought on the assault team, including the Knights of the Blood Oath and the Holy Dragon Alliance. These players usually didn't meet except for planning floor boss raids, but this was a special exception.

"Hey guys. We're here"

All heads turned as Wyvern Inferno entered the room with Helios taking the lead. He walked in the most glorifying way he could think of that went on to show just how pompous he could be. The axe wielder puffed out his chest as he called out to the other players in the room. "Fear not maggots! The great Helios has come to save your asses from destruction."

"Put a sock in it Helios" Ren told his friend as he swatted the back of his head.

Helios rubbed the spot where Ren hit him in mild pain. "Ow, what the hell man?! I'm just showing these guys they're in the presence of a god."

"I wouldn't say god. More like a pain in the ass" Mai commented as she walked in.

"Watch it squirt" Helios growled.

"Ahem!" The sudden loud grunt from Ren quickly shut up both of his guild members. Ren looked over to Asuna and the other heads of the assault team. "So what's up? Why'd you call this meeting?"

"Well now that everyone's here, we can explain" Asuna stated. "You see, there's a field boss that's been giving us some trouble recently. Our parties are having a really hard time with it."

Helios rolled his eyes at this. "Great. What's the boss this time? Sheeptar the Sheep King?"

Asuna and the others stared blankly at the axe wielder. "How did you know the boss's name?"

"... Wait, WHAT?! You mean that's seriously the name of the boss?!" Helios exclaimed. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of!"

"Well it's killed seven of us so-"

"SEVEN?! A boss with that kind of name has killed seven of us?!" Helios felt that something must have been caught in his ear. He had to be hearing this wrong. "What the hell is wrong with you idiots!? It's a freaking sheep, not some sort of demon lord! Next thing you know he's gonna be climbing the walls and spit acid at us!" he sarcastically yelled.

"... Well… about that…"

"... No… Just… are you freaking KIDDING me right now!? We're still talking about a SHEEP right? Not some kind of fluffy Xenomorph!?"

"It's a really stupid boss" Asuna shrugged.

Helios let out a derisive sneer as he sighed. "Clearly not THAT stupid if it's killed seven of you!"

"That's why we've called everyone here. We want to take it down without suffering any more casualties. We even brought out Mr. Soloist here" Asuna said as she gestured to Kirito, who simply waved in response.

"Wow we're THAT up shit creek huh? If the front lines seriously can't kill some sort of satanic sheep then I really am having doubts about our chances of clearing this game." Helios said.

"You'll see just how annoying it can be when we fight it" Asuna sighed.

XXXXXXXXXX

The ruins in the fields of Floor 37 were filled with murmurs of the players on the front lines. Everyone made sure to keep their voices to a low whisper to avoid alerting the attention of the boss, who roamed around the area.

"Where the hell is Kirito?!" Asuna said in a loud whisper. "We need him in our vanguard group to damage the boss!"

"We haven't heard a thing from him" Ren shrugged. "Nobody's seen him since the meeting. We'll just have to improvise"

"Ugh, that idiot! What could he be doing that's so important?"

"Shh! It's coming this way" someone whispered. Everyone fell silent as the field boss, Sheeptar the Sheep King, walked past them while they hid in the shadows of the ruins. As the name suggested, the boss was a gigantic sheep-like monster. It had two devilish horns sticking out of its head and its eyes shined with bloodlust. Sharp fangs could be seen as it snarled while walking. Attacking it head on was out of the question. They needed strategy to win this fight. Luckily, the group had been able to come up with one during the meeting, thanks to Ren and a few other strategists on the assault team.

"Is everyone in position?" Ren asked.

Asuna peeked her head out of the window and saw the signal in the distance that everyone was ready. "All set"

"Good. Then let's take this bastard down"

Ren and Asuna jumped out from the window they were hiding behind and descended to the ground. Oce their feet hit the hard earth beneath them, the two of them sped towards the boss at full speed. Both of their blades lit up with the light of their sword skills and they slashed through the boss's large body, skidding to a halt as they passed by it.

"Think that got its attention?" Asuna asked.

The response she got was a loud and furious cry from Sheeptar. Its roar echoed around the area and made Ren and Asuna's ears ring. When it ended, Ren looked to see the boss glaring murderously at them. "I'd say that's a yes"

Sheeptar roared as it began to charge towards the two players. Ren and Asuna quickly began running away from the boss with all the strength their legs could muster.

"Have I ever said how much I hate playing the decoy for stuff like this?!" Ren yelled as he and Asuna ran.

"You and me both! I guess that's what we get for raising our speed stat so high!" Asuna called back.

Ren and Asuna continued to run through the ruins as they led the boss where they needed it to be for the plan. They soon came up to a building that was at least ten stories high. Ledges of stone formed on the outer wall of the building which Asuna and Ren used as they kicked off ledge after ledge, finally making it to the roof. They looked down to see Sheeptar glaring up towards them. Behind it, several players were gathering, blocking off its escape route and preparing to attack from behind. Helios was up in front of the ambush group as he smirked at the boss.

"This is gonna be a piece of cake. We've got it cornered with nowhere to run"

' _That idiot'_ Ren thought to himself. _'Didn't we tell him that this thing climbs walls?!'_

Sheeptar decided to remind Helios of its wall climbing skills as it got on two feet and began trying to claw its way up towards Ren and Asuna, using the ledges for support. Unbeknownst to it however, several players were waiting inside the building it was currently trying to climb. Flashes of light shined from the windows as a barrage of weapon slashes attacked the boss's underbelly while it was climbing, forcing it to lose its footing and fall backwards. Alice took the opportunity to deal even more damage as she leaped out the window and hooked her scythe around part of the boss's neck. She yanked on her weapon as she forced Sheeptar to crash into the ground painfully on its back. Half of the boss's health had been shaved off from the barrage of sword skills and the damage only continued as Helios's group charged in and assaulted the boss with another series of attacks.

As the relentless attack continued, Sheeptar found its second wind as it thrashed around on its back and roared loudly. Everyone backed away as the boss got to its feet, seeming more enraged than ever.

"Everyone get out of there!" Asuna called out. "It's going berserk!"

Asuna's warning came too late however. Sheeptar began to inhale as it prepared for a long range breath attack.

"Crap! Its acid attack is coming!" Ren exclaimed. He cuffed his hands around his mouth to make sure his warning got to the group down below. "Everyone run! Get as far away from the boss as you can!"

The players near the boss quickly began falling back. Alice and Helios took cover as they ran into a nearby building. Others tried to simply distance themselves, a tactic that proved futile as Sheeptar let loose a wave of deadly acid. The poisonous liquid washed across the streets of the ruined city and slowly corroded anything it came into contact with. The players that were unfortunately unable to get away found their HP decrease rapidly. Most were able to make it out of the attack alive, but five unfortunate souls had their HP hit zero as they shattered into fragments.

Looking at the list of his party members, he saw that Helios and Alice had gotten away before the attack could reach them. He let out a sigh of relief but cursed under his breath that they had lost even more players due to this boss. Deciding to take this battle away from the streets that now had puddles of acid scattered across it, Sheeptar began scaling a nearby building wall. It brought itself up to the roof as it glared at Ren and Asuna, who were no longer safe.

Ren unsheathed his sword from his back and got ready to fight. "Let's take this bastard down Asuna"

"You took the words right out of my mouth" Asuna agreed with a nod.

Ren and Asuna kicked off the ground and began jumping from roof to roof, slowly getting closer to the boss. Sheeptar let out a growl as if daring the two players to come at it. Ren took the first move as he leaped above the boss, barely avoiding a bite from its mouth. He activated a sword skill midair as he twirled his body around like a twister, slashing the boss's back over and over again as he flew past it. As his feet hit the floor and slid across the stone surface, he found Sheeptar turning its head towards him. Asuna took advantage of the boss's distraction and jumped in. Her rapier lit up as she delivered several stabs to the boss's exposed neck, bringing its health down into the red. Asuna stuck the landing but her body was frozen as the boss's aggro now became focussed on her. It lifted one of its legs and prepared to squash Asuna like a bug, but Ren jumped in and tackled Asuna away before the foot reached her.

"Thanks Ren. I owe you one" Asuna said as she stood up and caught her breath.

"Don't mention it" Ren replied. Both of them stared down the boss as it glared menacingly at the two of them. Ren and Asuna widened their eyes in fear as the boss began inhaling for another acid attack.

"Not again!" Asuna exclaimed. "What do we do?! We can't get away up here!"

Ren quickly looked around for an escape route. The was barely any cover on the roofs of the ruined buildings and jumping down to the ground and trying to run would be pointless since the acid attack would most likely flow down onto the streets as well. As Ren began to panic, an orange light appeared from behind Sheeptar. Ren and Asuna looked over to see Helios jump into the air and swing his axe towards the destroyed ground.

"Take this!"

The impact of the axe smashing into the ground caused cracks to form in the roof. Combined with Sheeptar's immense weight, it crumbled apart and Sheeptar fell down to the first floor of the building. It fired its acid attack as it fell and a geyser of the ooze came up from the hole it fell into. Ren, Alice, and Helios jumped back as splashes of the acid fell towards them. The impact of Sheeptar crashing into the ground caused the whole building to shake slightly as a loud boom was heard. After a few seconds Ren, Asuna, and Helios looked down into the hole and saw Sheeptar still alive with a small sliver of health left. It was clearly injured however as it struggled to get up.

"I'd say another hit will do it" Ren said. Before they could decide how to safely finish Sheeptar off, Helios leaped into the air and plummeted down towards the boss. His axe gave off the glow of a sword skill as he fell closer and closer to Sheeptar.

"You know what Sheeptar the Sheep King?!" Helios glared as he got ready to deal the last blow. "You are without a doubt a REALLY! STUPID! BOSS!"

With one powerful swing of his axe, Helios ripped through the rest of Sheeptar's HP and the dangerous beast shattered into fragments. Cheers of excitement were heard throughout the ruined city that Sheeptar's reign had come to an end. Ren and Asuna collapsed on the rooftop they were standing on, exhausted from the boss fight.

"I can't believe we actually pulled it off" Ren said.

"Helios was right though" Asuna said. "This was a REALLY stupid boss idea"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kirito laid on the grass as he stared up into the sky. The warm sun washed over him and a refreshing breeze filled the air. It was days like this that made him thankful to be alive. He felt like there was something he was supposed to do, but he shrugged it off.

"Hey. How's it going buddy?"

Kirito looked over to see Asuna staring down at him with a scowl on her face. Now he KNEW he had forgotten to do something. "Hey Asuna. What's up?"

"Oh not much" Asuna shrugged. "I was out in the fields, it was nice and peaceful, and I WAS FIGHTING GODDAMN SHEEPTAR!"

' _Oh right. The field boss'_ Kirito remembered.

"It was great! You shoulda been there! He was climbing the walls, spitting acid-"

"We're still talking about a sheep right? Not some giant fluffy Xenomorph?"

"Alright, what the hell Kirito? You're acting way too… mellow."

"Well there was some time to kill before the boss raid so Helios and I were chatting. He suggested we try power leveling our alchemy skill a bit so he gave me these weird plants to try out. And then everything just felt so… good"

' _Oh my god'_ Asuna thought. _'Helios is behind this?! When I see that axe wielding asshole, I'm gonna-'_

"Yo guys! What's up?" a new voice that Asuna recognized as Helios called out. The Wyvern Inferno member casually walked over to Asuna and Kirito. Looking down at the Black Swordsman, he saw Kirito's… troubling state. "Wow. Those plants I gave him were even stronger than I thought."

"Helios" Asuna growled. "You made Kirito high and caused him to miss the boss raid?"

Suddenly Helios realized that coming here may have been a bad idea. He waved his arms defensively. "N-Now Asuna, I can't be held responsible for stoned Kirito. That guy's an idiot"

Asuna reached for the handle of her rapier, and Helios quickly took off. "Gotta go now! Bye!"

"GET BACK HERE!" Asuna yelled frighteningly as she chased after Helios.

For the rest of the day, Aincrad was filled with the many shouts of Asuna as she ran after Helios with a look of rage in her eyes.

 **A/N: I was hoping to get this out sooner, but oh well. I hope all of you SAO Abridged fans enjoyed the chapter and that all of you that haven't seen it yet are now planning to. I will try to get the next chapter out within 2-3 weeks, but I can't promise anything.**


	12. Ring of Angel's Whisper

**A/N: I'm really sorry this chapter took so long everyone and that I haven't been able to respond to reviews. Finals are right around the corner and most of my free time has gone to studying (and goofing off when I get really bored) plus I had a bit of writer's block with this chapter. To make up for it though, you're all gonna get another look at everyone's favorite con-artist.**

The crisp morning air filled the streets of Floor 42, which was where the front lines were currently at. Players in the assault team were already up and about as they prepared to get ready for a full day of exploring the fields. It was the morning rush for most shops, both NPC and player ones.

"Get your first-class equipment right here, people! You'll find deals here that you won't find anywhere else!"

Dagger shouted this in a cheerful voice as she stood in front of her mat on the streets as players looked at her wares. On display were a few weapons that seemed to be high grade, and for once they actually were.

At a glance, the weapons Dagger was selling were all powerful enough for players on the front lines. The stats were perfectly fine and would be plenty capable of dealing with the monsters in the fields. The only problem was that most of them were ones that Dagger had gotten through… less than honest methods.

If there was one thing Dagger was good at, besides scamming people with deals, it was sweet talking. A lot of the guys on the front lines were far too easy prey for her to catch in her traps. All she had to do was simply go up to one of them, act like she was actually interested in them, and then get them to show off their rare items. When they weren't looking, Dagger would simply grab the item and beat a hasty retreat. Since the items were manifested from the inventory instead of equipped, they technically didn't belong to anyone during those moments in order to allow others to hold and examine them.

It was stealing in a sense, but if in Dagger's mind if they were dumb enough to leave a rare item lying around, they didn't care enough about it.

The reason Dagger had been able to get away with this scheme for so long without getting caught was her skill at disguise. She had an endless supply of hair dyes and an equally endless supply of ways to style her hair. Once she had used one look, she made sure to never use it again. When she wasn't in disguise, she kept her natural red haired ponytail look. She also had a variety of fake names she used when tricking suckers this way. Since her name would only be displayed to people she partied with, nobody would ever be the wiser that Dagger was behind it all.

As players looked at the equipment Dagger had for sale, the red haired merchant noticed one of the guys she had stolen from walk up to the display. Dagger grew slightly nervous as she hoped he wouldn't recognize her by her face, but quickly composed herself. If she panicked now and suddenly closed shop, it would only make her seem suspicious.

The male player looked at one of the weapons Dagger was selling, the very same one that she had stolen from him about a week ago. "Hey I used to have a sword just like this. I was gonna make it my new main weapon, but some girl came and robbed me before I got the chance."

Dagger gasped as she made her face look like she was pitying the player. "That's terrible! I can't believe someone would do such a thing!"

"I know right! She was really pretty too. I hoped to get her in bed."

' _In your dreams pal'_ Dagger silently thought as she continued her ruse. "You must feel horrible having such a good weapon stolen. Tell you what, I'll give you a discount"

"Oh no. I couldn't ask you to do that. It's not your fault that my weapon got stolen after all"

"Well if you're sure, then alright. I'm selling that sword there for 200,000 col."

The player's jaw dropped at the amount. "Wh-What?! 200,000?!"

"Well it's not like you can find these weapons easily you know. They're called rare drops for a reason."

After mulling it over for a bit, he decided to take the deal. Dagger opened a trade window and handed over the weapon, receiving 200,000 col from the player in return. "Thank you for your purchase. Have a nice day" Dagger said cheerfully as she waved goodbye. _'What an idiot'_

The day went on as Dagger sold weapon after weapon to sucker after sucker. The best part was that she didn't need to inflate her prices so much for the rare equipment she had pickpocketed. After all, it had cost her nothing to get most of the items she was selling. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this scam up forever and would have to go back to her usual routine of selling items for ridiculous prices eventually, but that was business.

Finally the time came for Dagger to close up her shop for the day. She returned all her wares back to her inventory, along with the Merchant's Tarp she used. It was a handy item, allowing players to put items on display similarly to the way store merchants put items on their display cases. It kept them from being stolen, as if anyone would be stupid enough to steal from Dagger in the first place.

Dagger looked at the huge amount of cash she raked in today and thought about where she should go to eat dinner. As she contemplated this, she received a message from her fellow rip-off artist and friend, Argo. She opened up the message and read it to herself.

 _Need your help with a dungeon for a quest. Are you free tomorrow? Before you ask, there is a rare item for the quest reward._

 _-Argo_

After thinking it over for a moment, Dagger replied to the message with a yes. She had been doing pretty well lately and Argo was a friend. The main allure for her though was the rare item Argo mentioned as a reward. Depending on what it was, she could make a decent profit selling it. Argo sent a reply back, telling Dagger to meet her in the town area on Floor 32 tomorrow morning. After making a mental note of the meeting time and place, Dagger went back to her search for a good restaurant.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Dagger stood in the streets of the town on Floor 32 as she waited for Argo to arrive. It was still early in the morning and not many players were up and about yet. A few minutes passed by before Argo finally showed up.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Dagger" Argo greeted.

"I wasn't waiting for too long. So what's this quest we're going on?"

"It's apparently called the Ring of Angel's Whisper" Argo explained. "It's in a secluded area of Floor 32, away from most of the main dungeons so not many people know about it yet."

"I see. So you want to try it out and find the best ways to clear it so you can sell that info to others" Dagger deduced.

"You know me too well" Argo grinned.

The two female players began walking outside of town and into the fields. As they walked, Dagger remembered that Argo hadn't even mentioned what kind of item the rare reward was supposed to be. "Hey Argo…"

"Let me guess. You want to know what the reward item for the quest is"

Dagger gave a small laugh as she nodded. "I guess you know me too well too. So, what is it?"

"It's a special type of ring. Just like the quest name, it's called the Ring of Angel's Whisper."

The mention of an item she had never heard of peaked Dagger's interest. "What's so special about it? Does it boost stats at all?"

"Nope. There's no stat boosting effects. But it can be used a phone between two people that have it once per month."

"Once a month? What's the point of that? It'd way more convenient to just message a person."

"True, but it does have that sort of romantic quality to it" Argo said. "Depending on how this turns out, I actually know a few couples that would love something like this. Plus with your silver tongue, you should have no problem selling a pair of them."

"That's true" Dagger admitted. "Romantics are always easy to scam"

After a few more minutes of talking, the two girls made it to the starting point of the quest. An angel sat on an alter with a grumpy look on her face.

As Dagger and Argo walked up to her, a window appeared in front of them, reading 'Do you want to accept the Ring of Angel's Whisper quest?'. Dagger hit the yes tab and the angel NPC reacted to their appearance.

"Oh great. Humans" the angel groaned.

' _Well nice to meet you too, Ms. Grumpypants'_ Dagger thought to herself. "Hello. How can we help you?"

"I doubt you're capable of it, but there's a rabbit that's running wild around the meadow here. If, and I mean IF you can actually stop its rampage, I'll give you a pair of rings."

"We won't let you down, ma'am" Argo said with a smile.

"Whatever. I'll be waiting here for someone that's actually reliable to come along"

The 'Quest in Progress' tab appeared over the angel and Dagger and Argo walked away towards the dungeon. Dagger had a scowl on her face from the way the angel had spoken to them. "Ugh, what the hell is her problem?"

"If I had to guess, it's probably one of those storylines where she was someone who was betrayed by humans and doesn't trust them anymore" Argo shrugged. "It's a pretty common type of quest NPC in MMORPGs."

"I didn't realize you were such a gamer veteran" Dagger said.

Argo shook her head. "I'm not actually. I just know what a lot of common quest storylines since I was an info broker in both the beta and the current SAO."

"Well at least your info helps me make an even better profit" Dagger said with a laugh.

The two girls' conversation was interrupted as monsters suddenly spawned out of nowhere. Before they knew it, Argo and Dagger were surrounded by several small plant-type monsters. Dagger brought out her short sword while Argo revealed her trusty claw-like gauntlets. Fighting with claws was just another thing that made her nickname Argo the Rat make even more sense.

"So how should we do this? You take half and I take half?" Dagger suggested.

"Someone sure sounds confident. You sure all those days selling stuff hasn't made your fighting skills sloppy?" Argo said with a mocking grin.

Dagger smirked as she got ready to fight. "Try to keep up"

The two girls quickly kicked off the ground and sped at their opponents. Despite the fact that neither of them were out in the fields every day, their skills in combat were not to be taken lightly. Dagger's light armor allowed her to easily avoid the vines that the plant monsters swung at her. Once she closed in, she used one last dash to speed past her enemy and rip it in half, shattering it into polygons. Before the other monsters could react in time, Dagger turned around and threw some throwing knives at them. Once they stuck to their targets, a temporary paralysis effect overtook them. Dagger used the opportunity to go for an all-out attack. Her blade became coated in a red light as she delivered a spiraling slash that hit each of the paralyzed monsters and took them out easily.

Argo was having an easy time with her opponents too. She swung her right fist forward, embedding her claw into one of the monsters. The other enemies swung their vines and aimed for her legs but Argo wasn't that easy. She swung her body up and balanced herself on the plant monster she had just attack with her hands, cutting into the monster's body even more. She then kicked both plants to the side of her, making them stumble back a bit as she removed her claw from the monster she was balancing on and jumped away from them. While the three plants were still recovering their balance, Argo went in for the kill as she ripped them apart with her claws before they could do a thing.

With their enemies now defeated, Dagger sheathed her blade and gave a smile towards her partner. "Not bad Argo. You've gotten better"

"Same to you" Argo replied. "I see that jagged short-sword is still working wonders for you."

Dagger looked down at her waist to the weapon Argo was referring to, her trusty blade Rip-off. It was a handy weapon that Dagger had gotten from a quest about half a year ago. It also had a handy bonus skill that increased the rate of rare drops for her, something that helped her increase her wares whenever she went out hunting in the fields.

Deciding to continue on with the quest, Dagger and Argo pressed on through the meadow dungeon. Mobs appeared every now and then, but the two of them were more than a match for the monster plants. Eventually the girls reached an open area with nothing but a field of flowers around them. There were no signs of any monsters lurking in the vicinity either.

"This should be the boss room. So where's the boss?" Dagger wondered. As she said this, she found a small fluffy white bunny hopping near her feet. Her eyes lit up at the adorable sight. "Aww, how cute! What's a little bunny like you doing… uh oh"

Dagger realized what was going on just in time and leaped back along with Argo before the bunny let out a ferocious roar. Its body transformed as it grew to a height of nearly ten feet. Its fur became pitch black and fangs appeared from its mouth as it snarled at the two girls.

"Looks like we found the boss" Dagger said as she unsheathed her blade. Argo got ready to fight too as the monster rabbit charged at them.

Dagger and Argo leaped to the side as the boss lunged towards them. A small crater formed as the paw of the rabbit smashed into the ground. While the boss was preparing to attack again, Dagger and Argo slashed at it from behind. They kept up the process of dodging the boss's blows and attacking from behind over and over for about a full half hour. It seemed eons had passed by as the rabbit's health finally fell into the red. Dagger charged in once again to finish it, but the boss wasn't having any of that. With its health so low, its movements and strength seemed to multiply as it turned around and swung its paw at Dagger, knocking her back and causing her to slam into the ground painfully.

"Are you ok?!" Argo called out to her friend.

"Yeah" Dagger nodded as she shook off the dizziness in her consciousness. "No problem" She looked over towards the boss to see it leap towards her. Dagger sprung herself up and quickly jumped away from the incoming monster. With her claws lit up with the light of a sword skill, Argo charged at the boss and slashed at it, lowering its health even further into the red. Before the boss could counter-attack, Dagger swooped in and finished it off. Her blade Rip-off cut through the remainder of the boss's HP. The giant beast shattered into fragments as Dagger sheathed her blade and breathed a sigh of relief. Her window showed the items she had gotten from the boss fight, including a rare item for the last attack bonus.

"I see what you did there" Argo said with a smirk as she walked over to her friend.

"Whatever do you mean?" Dagger innocently asked.

"Waiting for me to lower the boss's health to the last sliver so you could go and steal the last attack bonus"

"What?! I would never do something so devious and underhanded" Dagger said sarcastically as she cracked a grin.

The two females laughed together. Argo had known all about Dagger's greed for money, and rare items were her best way to get to that. "Well let's head back. We can complete this quest, get the rings, and head back to town."

Dagger nodded as she and Argo left the meadow. After a short walk back to the altar, they were met with the same angel that had greeted them when they first arrived.

"You actually did it?!" she exclaimed. "W-Well, I guess even humans have their days every now and then. But I suppose I should thank you"

' _Geez, can't she just be honest with herself and tell us she's sorry?'_ Argo thought with a smile.

"Here. Take these rings" the angel said. Her body became enveloped in light as she vanished. Once she disappeared, both Argo and Dagger found a pair of rings in their hands.

"So these are the Rings of Angel's Whisper?" Dagger said as she examined them. "Not a bad piece of jewelry. I could probably sell these for a good price."

Argo grinned at her friend's eagerness to make a profit. "Well I suppose I should thank you for helping me out on this quest."

"Well I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't like a reward." Dagger admitted.

"In that case, here" Argo took the pair of rings she obtained from the quest and gave them to Dagger. "Take these"

"But don't you want them? I mean they're the main point of the quest."

"I don't really need anything like that" Argo shrugged. "Besides, you said you were selling yours. Think of these as a pair that you can hold onto. Maybe you'll find someone to give one to someday."

Dagger smiled as Argo walked away. She was a rat, but she was also a good friend. "Thanks Argo. I'll see you around"

"Try not to get yourself in any stupid situations" Argo said as she waved goodbye.

Dagger looked at the now four rings she had, putting them all into her inventory. _'Love huh? Money is all the love I need. Still… it might be nice one day'_

 **A/N: I thought some of you SAO fans would like to see the Ring of Angel's Whisper quest from the Girls Ops manga, since I didn't use it like I did in the original version of this story. Hope you all enjoyed it. Again I'm sorry this one took so long. I promise the next one will be out before Christmas.**


	13. Christmas Special

**A/N: Hello SAO fans! This chapter is a little Christmas special I put together for you guys for the holidays. Hope you enjoy it.**

Snowflakes fell around the town of Floor 49. It was December 23rd and many players were busy trying to set up for Christmas. Even the assault team had taken a break from clearing to celebrate the holiday, something they rarely ever did.

The first time Christmas occurred in SAO, there was a lot less of a celebration. It had only been about a month or two since the death game had started so players were more focused on clearing the game or were still going through the early trauma of the death game. The holiday season pretty much skipped by without anyone noticing it.

This time was different. Players wanted to make up for that Christmas they skipped last year so a sense of purpose seemed to invigorate everyone to make this one special.

Alice looked around the town, seeing players carefree and happy. Shop owners were decorating their stores with wreaths and streamers. NPC shops were selling gingerbread cookies. They all seemed to be so caught up in getting ready for the holidays that they had forgotten something Alice wished she could forget.

This would make it the second Christmas they had all been away from their families.

Alice thought back to all the fond memories she had for Christmas. Setting up the tree with her father. Helping her mother bake cookies. Opening presents Christmas morning with Mai. This would be the second year in a row that she wouldn't be able to experience those things.

"Alice? You ok?"

The sudden call from Ren snapped Alice out of her daydream. "Y-Yeah Ren. I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff"

"Like what? Ren asked.

"Oh nothing important. Anyway, where do you wanna go next?"

Ren brought his hand to his chin as he thought about it. "Let's see… We already went to some of the shows being put on. I know! Let's go try out some of the sweets available at the shops"

"That sounds like fun" Alice said with a nod of agreement. "Oh, I heard about a place a few blocks from here that sells really delicious cookies"

"Sounds like a good first stop then" Ren decided. "Let's get going"

Ren and Alice walked through the streets holding hands as they admired the decorative town. It really livened up the atmosphere for everyone, which was something they all needed. When they reached the store that Alice had mentioned, the couple looked at the holiday cookies for sale. They were soft sugar cookies with holiday designs on them that ranged from a snowman to a Christmas tree and even one of Santa Claus. The two of them decided to buy some for themselves along with a bunch to share with the rest of the guild later on.

As Ren and Alice continued to walk through town, they noticed a small show going on in the square. Deciding to take a look, the couple walked over to check it out. In the center of the square, they saw a player dressed as Santa Claus sitting on one of the benches. Little kids that Ren guessed lived in the Town of Beginnings were lined up, with each of them wanting a turn on Santa's lap.

"Christmas really does bring out the best in people" Alice said with a smile. Suddenly her gaze turned to the players dressed as elves that were helping out and she noticed a familiar face. "No way… is that…?"

"What's wrong Alice?" Ren asked. In response, Alice pointed to one of the helper elves. Ren looked at the player she was pointing at and noticed it was none other than Mai.

Mai brought one of the little kids over to see Santa and placed them on his lap. She seemed to be enjoying herself as she helped spread the holiday spirit. Looking over, she saw Ren and Alice in the distance. Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment a little, but she quickly hid it and went back to helping out with the event.

"She looks so adorable in that elf costume" Alice giggled. She brought out a photo crystal and snapped a picture of her little sister, making sure to save it for later.

Time passed on by as Ren and Alice continued to enjoy themselves. When it finally came time to call it a day, Alice gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek and walked to the inn she was staying at.

As Alice walked back, that same feeling from before returned to her. Loneliness. Sure she had her friends and Mai, but Christmas was always something that she cherished doing with her family. Alice fell onto her bed as she thought of her parents. What are they doing right now? Are they as sad as she is that they're spending another Christmas separated by SAO?

"Mom… Dad… I miss you" Alice muttered to herself as tears began to flow down her eyes. She curled herself up and huddled as she cried.

She didn't get how everyone could be so cheerful. She didn't get how everyone could be so happy. What was there to be happy about? All this meant was that they had spent another year trapped in this god forsaken death game.

' _I just… I want to see them again. I want to smell mom's delicious cookies. I want to hear dad's stupid cheesy jokes he would always make. But I can't. I can't because I'm in here and they're in the real world. I feel so alone'_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Christmas Eve came quickly and left just as fast. Now it was finally Christmas. The streets of town were even more crowded than before. Friends chatted together and exchanged gifts. The beautiful white snowflakes danced in the air. Everything felt magical.

Ren and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno sat together in the small player home that Ren owned. It wasn't anything special, just one of the many houses along the streets of the town on Floor 45, but at least it was nicer than staying at an inn every day.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?!" Mai complained as she held up Helios's gift to her, a sweater with the words 'Please Kick Me' stitched into the back.

"Hey, I got that custom made from Ashley, the best seamstress in SAO." Helios argued.

"I don't care if it was sewn together with silk made from the heavens! How am I supposed to wear this outside?!"

Helios responded with a condescending smirk. "Oh Mai, did you forget how to use the menu again?"

Mai lunged at Helios and the two quickly became trapped in a struggle. It didn't last long though as Helios easily overpowered the young girl and sat on her. Mai struggled to move. But found herself trapped under her guild mate. "Get off of me you asshole!"

"Not until you apologize and say you don't even deserve to be in my presence."

"The hell I will!"

"Then I suggest you make yourself comfy"

Ren sighed as he watched the two of them bicker. "Can you two not be at each other's throats for one day?"

"He started it!"

"She started it!"

Ren rolled his eyes at the two of them and turned to Alice, who he noticed seemed a little distant. "Alice? You ok?"

"Huh?" Alice suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and back to reality. "Oh, y-yeah. I'm fine Ren"

Ren didn't seem all that convinced by his girlfriend's words, but decided to let it go. Instead of pestering her about whatever was troubling her, he decided to try and cheer her up with a present of his own. He opened his menu and shifted through it, selecting an item and turning it into a wrapped gift that appeared in front of him. It was a handy feature that was available only today for the holiday. He handed it to Alice. "Your turn to open something"

Curious as to what it was, Alice tapped her finger on the gift and brought up a window on it. She selected the 'Open' tab and the wrapping paper disappeared, revealing a beautiful silver necklace with a golden heart locket. Alice looked at Ren with an astonished expression, wondering how much col it must have cost.

"I thought about getting a ring, but I felt that might send the wrong message" Ren explained with a smile. "Try it on."

Alice brought up the window on the necklace once again and selected 'Equip'. The necklace teleported from her hands to around her neck. She smiled at the beautiful piece of jewelry. "Thanks Ren. I love it."

"Aww, are you two gonna kiss now?" Mai asked with a teasing grin. Both Ren and Alice blushed at the comment, making the young girl giggle to herself.

Before Alice could complain to her sister for the comment she made, the guild heard the sound of cheering outside. Curious as to what it was, Ren and the others went outside to see for themselves.

When they exited Ren's house and stood on the streets, the guild realized what the cheering was about. The streets were lined up with red and green lights that illuminated the night sky. Over towards the center of town, the peak of a large Christmas tree could be seen above the buildings. The sky was brightened as clusters of twinkling stars joined together, forming a consolation that read Happy Holidays.

Ren looked at the sight and smiled to himself. "This really makes you feel the holiday spirit, doesn't it? What do you think Ali-" Ren stopped talking as he looked at Alice and saw tears running down her eyes. "Alice? What's wrong?"

XXXXXXXXXXX

" _Where are we going Dad?" Alice asked as held her father's hand while they walked through the city streets._

" _We'll be there soon sweetheart" Alice's father told her._

" _Can't you tell us? Please!" Mai begged while riding on her father's shoulders._

 _The father of the two girls chuckled at their eagerness. Their mother smiled at her two daughters. "We're almost there you two. Just be a little more patient."_

 _A few minutes later, Alice's family arrived at their destination. Multitudes of people were huddled together in the cold December air. Alice looked around them, wondering what was so special that so many people had come here._

 _Her question was soon answered as a collection of bright lights shined in the distance. Red and green lights spiraled around a large Christmas tree in the center of the city. The star on top shined with a beautiful golden light._

" _Wow! It's beautiful!" Alice exclaimed._

" _This is so cool!" Mai added with just as much excitement as her sister._

" _Merry Christmas girls" Alice's father said with a smile as the family of four stared at the shining tree in front of them._

XXXXXXXXXXX

That memory hit Alice like a freight train as she looked at the glowing tree in front of her. Tears welled up in her eyes. Why? Why did she have to be separated from her family like this?

"Alice, what's wrong?" Ren asked again. Alice didn't give an answer. Instead, she ran away with tears running down her face. "Alice!"

Alice ran. She ran and ran, ignoring the calls from her friends. She wanted to be alone right now. She couldn't let them see her like this. She couldn't let Ren see her like this. There was only one place she could think of where she could be alone, where no one could see her cry.

Alice stood on the town's teleportation gate. She called out the name of the town for Floor 27 and instantly teleported there. Once her body manifested on Floor 27 she took off running once again. She kept running, ignoring the looks people were giving her, until she finally arrived at her destination.

Pushing her body through the small crack at the end of the alleyway, Alice stood in the secluded open spot Ren had shown her back on their first date. White snow covered the usual grassy area. She walked up to the large tree in the center, laid her back against it, and cried into her arms.

' _I miss Mom and Dad. I want to see them again.'_

Minutes passed by as Alice continued to cry. The quiet field provided no comfort to Alice. It could only shelter her from the outside. From everything out there that reminded her of how lonely she felt.

"So this is where you were"

Alice lifted her head to see Ren walking over to her. He took a seat next to her as she buried her face into her arms once again. "How'd you find me?"

"I tracked you to the town on this floor through the menu. I figured you'd be here if you decided to come down to this floor." Ren explained. "Now then, are you gonna tell me what that was all about?"

"I just want to be alone right now" Alice replied in a depressed tone.

Ren put a comforting arm around his girlfriend. "Alice, tell me what's wrong. Let me try and help"

Alice stopped sobbing into her arms and instead buried her head into Ren's coat, letting her emotions explode out of her. "This is the second Christmas I've been away from my family! We've been trapped in this death game for over a year now! I miss everyone from the real world! I want to be with them again so badly!"

Ren held Alice close to him in his arms as she cried. He took his hand and stroked her long black hair, trying to comfort her. "So that's why you've seemed so distant lately"

Alice finally stopped wailing out in sadness after another minute or so, but she still had tears rolling down her face as she laid her head against her boyfriend. "Ren… how do you do it? How does it not tear you up inside being away from your family for so long?"

Ren stayed silent for a moment before answering. "I guess… it's because I have you."

"Why? I'm nothing special" Alice muttered with a harsh laugh.

"That's not true" Ren told Alice as he embraced her tightly. "You mean so much to me. You're the reason I can fight with everything I've got. You're the reason I can fight so hard to get back to the real world, to my family, to my sister-"

"Your sister?" Alice interrupted, looking back up at him. "You never told me you had a sister"

Ren nodded his head. "Yeah. I've got a little sister named Clair. She's around the same age as Mai."

Alice looked at the sad smile on her boyfriend's face. Here she was crying and sulking about being away from her family, even though she still at least had Mai. Ren didn't have anyone from his family here in SAO with him. The pain he felt from being away from them must have been even worse. She took her sleeve and wiped her eyes.

"I'm so pathetic, crying like a baby" Alice muttered to herself. She wrapped her arms around Ren, feeling the warmth from his body. "Thanks Ren. Thanks for being here with me."

"Anything for you" Ren said as he leaned in and kissed her. "I know I can't replace your family, but if there's anything you ever need to talk about, I'm here. You can talk to me whenever you want about anything you want"

"Thanks" Alice said. Suddenly her eyes opened wide. "Oh that's right! I forgot to give you your gift!" She quickly opened her menu and scrolled down to the item she was looking for. After she manifested it as a present, she handed it over to Ren. "Here you go"

Ren accepted the gift and opened it. The present box contained a small silver ring. He widened his eyes at it. "Alice…"

"It's not what you think! I didn't mean it like that!" Alice assured him as she blushed in embarrassment. "Look at its stats"

Ren did as he was told and brought up the window on it. He looked in shock as he saw that it gave +20 resistance to all status effects. Something like this would be worth a fortune on the item market. "Where did you find this?"

"It was a monster drop I got while training on some of the lower floors" Alice explained.

"But don't you want it?"

Alice shook her head. "I'd rather you have it. Rather than keep me safe, I'd like it to keep someone very important to me safe. You."

"I… I don't know what to say"

"You don't have to say anything. You have no idea how much you mean to me" Alice said as she hugged him. "Hey Ren…"

"What is it?"

"Well… I was just wondering… could we spend the night together?"

Ren nodded his head as he continued to hold her. "Of course"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ren sat on the edge of his bed as he finished typing his message to the guild, informing them that Alice was safe. He pressed 'Send' and the window in front of him disappeared. "Alright. It's sent"

"I sent a message telling Mai that I'd be here tonight" Alice added as she entered the bedroom, dressed only in her bra and underwear. "Thanks for being with me tonight"

"Of course" Ren replied. The two of them crawled into bed and nuzzled up together.

Alice wrapped her arms around Ren while he toyed with Alice's long hair. The couple felt each other's warmth as they laid together.

"I love you Ren. Merry Christmas" Alice smiled, leaning in and giving him a kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Alice" Ren said as he gave her a kiss back. The two of them closed their eyes and fell asleep together, blocking out everything except for each other.

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Well either way I hope you guys all enjoy the holidays. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up a little after New Years.**


	14. The Gigas Titan

**A/N: I'm back readers! Just in time for the new year, here's the next chapter.**

The Floor 50 town of Algade was wide, crowded, and VERY difficult to navigate through. When the front lines first reached it, people got lost quite easily. It must have been designed that way intentionally because there were even NPCs stationed around the city to direct people to certain parts of town. A week passed by before players were able to navigate through the city on their own.

Ren and Alice walked through the crowded city together. The couple had just finished eating dinner and were trying to find something to do in order to kill some time.

"What should we do?" Alice wondered.

"We could go see Agil and sell him some of the drops we got" Ren suggested.

Alice thought about it for a moment before finally shrugging. "Why not? I can't think of anything better to do right now"

It took a bit of navigating, but Ren and Alice managed to find their way to Agil's new shop in Algade. Ren walked through the door and waved. "Hey Agil."

"Hey, what's up" Agil said with a wave. "Got stuff you need to sell?"

"Yep" Ren nodded. He opened his menu and brought up a list of random drop items he had gotten from the fields today that he didn't need. Most players Agil would rip-off, but Ren and his guild were one of the few exceptions as they had known him since the early days of SAO.

Agil browsed the items Ren was selling. They weren't anything special, but he could probably sell them to a few suckers. After agreeing on a price, Ren sold his items over to Agil. Alice walked up next and showed her excess items off. Ren didn't know if it was because Alice had a pretty face, but he always seemed to give her a better price for her items.

"By the way, I heard the boss room for Floor 50 was recently discovered. Is that true?" Agil asked.

Ren nodded his head. "Yeah. A recon team was sent out not too long ago. They should be returning pretty soon."

"So you're killing time before the meeting" Agil guessed. "Must be tough being the head tactician in the game"

"Yeah, it's a bit of a pain. But it's not like I had much choice in it. Heathcliff chose me personally"

It was around Floor 40 that Heathcliff had brought together a group of the top strategists SAO had to offer and put together a specialized tactical group for planning boss fights. Out of that group, Heathcliff had chosen Ren to be the head tactician. It made sense, considering that Ren had helped plan several boss fight strategies already during the course of the death game.

Out of nowhere, a message window suddenly appeared in front of Ren. "That must be Heathcliff" Ren said as he tapped his finger on the window and opened it.

"What does it say?" Alice asked.

"The recon team's back" Ren said. "We're meeting at the usual spot"

Alice nodded and quickly finished her trade with Agil before leaving the shop with Ren. The two of them walked over to the town's teleport gate and called out the name for the town on Floor 45.

The Knights of the Blood Oath still had yet to find an appropriate building for their guild HQ. As a result, the open area that was the town square for Floor 45 was often used for raid meetings. When Ren and Alice arrived, there were already a few major guild leaders present, as well as the other tacticians.

"Glad you could make it Ren" Heathcliff greeted. "It's good to have our head tactician with us"

"I'd never miss a strategy meeting for a floor boss" Ren said.

"Look, the big brainiac brought his girlfriend along" one player snickered.

"Well duh. He brings her everywhere" another player added.

"You think they're gonna play kissy face while the meeting's going on?"

Usually Ren would put a stop to anyone mocking him and Alice, but he knew just how intimidating Alice could be when she got angry. That intimidation was shown as Alice reached for the handle of her scythe. "I'm sorry, does someone have a problem with me being here?"

"N-N-No! Of course not!"

"Yeah, w-why wouldn't we w-w-want you?!"

"Good" Alice said with a grin as she released the grip on her scythe. Ren smirked at the players cowering in fear of Alice. She was known for not being the type of person you wanted to have angry at you. The only one even scarier than her was Asuna, and she had already made sure that people knew not to mess with her.

A few minutes passed by as the last few people showed up. Once everyone was present, Heathcliff stepped forward. "Now that everyone's here, I'd like to start the raid meeting. Our recon team reported back to us that the boss seems incredibly strong. It's apparently a powerful monster that focuses almost entirely on physical attacks."

"Any specific attack patterns?" Ren asked.

Heathcliff shook his head. "I'm afraid the boss was too strong for the recon team to stay for very long. They were only able to fight for about five minutes before they were forced to fall back."

"I knew it" Ren quietly muttered. "Floor 50 is a special boss fight"

"You're correct" Heathcliff nodded. He looked to the rest of the players gathered. "I'm sure you all remember the terror that was the boss for Floor 25. It was far stronger than both the floor bosses for Floor 24 and Floor 26."

Everyone nodded. The massacre that the Aincrad Liberation Force suffered from the Hydra Orochi still lingered in the heads of many players that had fought in the raid as well as those that had heard about it.

Heathcliff continued with his speech. "Based on this information, I believe we can assume that every quarter boss fight, in other words Floors 25, 50, 75, and 100, will have a much higher difficulty than usual floor boss fights. We should keep this in mind going forward"

"At least the boss seems to be mostly a powerhouse this time. That gives us something to go on" Ren said. "The Hydra Orochi focused more on inflicting status ailments. Based on this boss's description, I doubt that will be the case this time"

"We should put a row of tanks in the front row to hold back the boss's attack. Then everyone else can flank when there's an opening" someone said

"That's probably our best bet going in" Ren nodded in agreement. "But we should also be careful of AoE smash attacks. Power heavy bosses tend to use those and inflict a stun effect on players caught in it."

"Ren raises a fair point" Asuna said. "We'll have to keep a close eye on the boss and be prepared to switch out quickly."

"So is everyone alright with our strategy?" Heathcliff asked the group. Nobody raised any arguments. "Good. We'll move out tomorrow at noon. You are dismissed"

The players gathered dispersed into the streets to prepare for tomorrow's raid. As Ren walked home with Alice, he couldn't help but question whether he could keep her safe or not tomorrow. The upcoming boss fight would undoubtedly be the most dangerous one yet. He quickly shook the thoughts out of his head. He needed a clear mind for the boss raid. No matter what happened, he would protect Alice with his life. That was something he promised himself a long time ago.

* * *

Fighting up to the boss room hadn't been very difficult for the raid party. A full group of 49 players had been formed for the battle and each of them were plenty skilled enough for a boss fight. Even Agil had been called out for the boss fight. It only seemed fitting since he was usually asked to participate in the big battles and this one definitely qualified as big.

Kirito and Agil had been assigned to Ren's party to fill in the two empty slots for the guild of five. It was something Ren was used to, since he was one of the few people on the assault team that actually liked the Black Swordsman.

The raid group now stood in front of the doors to the boss room. The intense pressure that was in the air put everyone on edge. Heathcliff stepped forward to provide a few words of encouragement.

"This will without a doubt be our toughest battle yet. But I know we can prevail. We will defeat this boss and further our goal to freedom!"

A resounding cheer of agreement came from the raid party. Heathcliff turned to face the door to the boss room and pushed it open.

"Attack!"

At Heathcliff's command, the horde of players charged into the room. The entire place was pitch black. Nobody could see a thing. Then in an instant, all that changed. The room was lit up and the courageous faces on everyone disappeared.

The recon team had said the boss was a powerful monster. They clearly didn't go into enough detail.

The boss was at least 15 meters tall. It was a humanoid giant-type monster. In its right hand was a massive looking hammer. The left hand was holding an equally massive battle axe. The look in its eyes was that of a predator. As it let out a terrifying roar, the entire room seemed to shake. Four health bars appeared next to it with its name reading above them. Even from the high distance, players could read it easily.

The Gigas Titan

One look at the boss was enough to make a majority of the raid party tremble with fear. It was the most intimidating thing any of them had ever seen. Even the front row of tanks were falling out of formation.

"Wh-What is that thing?!"

"I didn't sign up for this!"

"That thing's too powerful! Run for your lives!

Asuna barked at the trembling players. "Idiots! Get back in formation! We can win this if we stick to the plan!" She was soundly ignored though as many players quickly grabbed teleport crystals and left.

"Damnit!" Ren cursed under his breath. Over half of the raid party had ran away already. He quickly scanned at who they had left to work with. His guild was still present, along with the parties from the Knights of the Blood Oath and the Holy Dragon Alliance.

' _What do we do?!'_ Ren thought. _'We don't have anywhere near enough players to pull this off now! I need to think of something fast or we're screwed!'_

Suddenly Ren watched Heathcliff walk past him. He looked at Ren, seeming to be unfazed by the situation they were in. "I'll hold it at bay. Come up with a plan in the meantime."

"Are you nuts?!" Ren exclaimed. "You can't fight that thing all by yourself!"

"He's right Commander. Let me help too" Asuna suggested.

Heathcliff shook his head. "No. I should be able to keep it busy myself." Before anyone else could object, Heathcliff charged at the boss.

The Gigas Titan gripped its axe firmly as it swung it sideways. Heathcliff quickly got into a defensive stance and used his shield to block the powerful swing, though it pushed him to the side. Heathcliff now had the boss's full attention as he engaged with it in a one-on-one battle. Offense against defense. It was all a matter of whether Heathcliff could hold back the Gigas Titan's assault long enough for Ren to come up with something.

The battle went on for a full 30 minutes without Heathcliff even breaking a sweat. Everyone stared at him in awe.

"How is he doing that?" Alice gasped. "He's able to keep up with all of the boss's attacks and he doesn't even seem tired."

"Either way, he can't keep it up forever" Asuna pointed out. "Have you figured out a way to beat it yet Ren?"

Ren thought about what he had figured out so far. During Heathcliff's fight with the boss, they had seen pretty much every attack the boss was capable of. Dodging them would be simple. Additionally, Ren had figured out that the most likely weak point of the boss was its neck. There was only one problem. It was way too high to reach and if they didn't aim for that they wouldn't last long enough to defeat the boss.

Heathcliff finally gave in as a strike from the Gigas Titan's hammer smashed the ground, sending out a shockwave around it and forcing Heathcliff to lose his balance slightly. The boss used this opportunity to swing its axe at him, sending him flying back and knocking his health down by a bit.

"Commander!" Asuna exclaimed as she rushed over to his side. "Are you alright?!"

"Don't worry yourself. I'm fine" Heathcliff assured her. "But I'm not entirely sure how much longer I can keep this up."

Asuna turned back to Ren. "Ren do you have a-" She stopped as she saw the look in Ren's eyes. It was the one he had whenever he had gotten an idea.

"I think I figured out a way to win this" Ren said. "Heathcliff, can you get the boss to swing it's hammer down once more?"

"Leave it to me" he nodded as he once again charged at the Gigas Titan.

Ren quickly looked to the rest of the group. "Kirito and Asuna, I need you to follow my lead once that hammer swings down. We're going to run up the boss's arm and go for an attack on the neck. Once we hit that, it should stop its attacks momentarily, which will give everyone else the chance to attack it while its stunned."

Everyone nodded in agreement and got into position. The second Ren saw the Gigas Titan prepare to swing down its hammer, he gave the order. "Now!"

Kirito, Asuna, and Ren all took off running towards the boss. The three of them leaped over the shockwave as it ran past them and landed one by one on the arm of the boss. The massive size of the muscular limb made it easy to run across. The three players ran up the arm in a straight line and each prepared their sword skills. The attacks came one after another as they each slashed at the boss's neck and jumped off as they ran past it.

"Perfect! It worked like a charm Ren!" Asuna grinned as they all landed on the ground. "Now let's finish this sucker off and-"

Asuna was cut off as the Gigas Titan let out a furious roar. Ren watched as it began to rampage around instead of being stunned like he had thought. The second wave of attackers were already dangerously close to the boss.

"Everyone run!" Ren shouted. "Get out of there!"

The group quickly tried to disperse and get away from the rampaging boss. It was just Ren's luck though that the boss decided to set its sights on the direction Alice was running. It swung its hammer down and trapped Alice in the stun effect.

"Alice!" Ren cried out as he took off running. The boss was looming over Alice, ready to finish her off with its axe. _'Come on! Let me make it in time!'_

The axe swung down at Alice while her eyes watched in horror. Just before the blade of the axe could hit her though, Ren appeared in front of her and blocked it with his sword. The impact sent him flying back and skidding across the ground.

The second Alice felt her body regain the ability to move, she took off running towards Ren. She came to a stop once she was at his side as he tried to get up. "Ren! Ren, are you alright?! Answer me!"

"I'm *huff* fine" Ren grunted as he got up. He felt Alice wrap her arms around him tightly. "A-Alice?"

"You reckless idiot! I was so worried!" Alice sobbed, not letting Ren out of her arms. "What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking about you" Ren told her. "There's no way I'm letting you die, no matter what"

"If you two are done over there!" Helios barked as he jumped back from the Gigas Titan's axe. "We really need some help over here!"

Ren and Alice got up and looked at the boss. From all the damage they had dealt it so far, they had managed to get it down to its last two health bars. They had to end this quickly before any casualties occurred. There had been too many close calls already with the boss's rampage just now. Luckily it seemed to have calmed down somewhat. That still didn't take away the fact that Ren and the others were in a tight spot right now with their low numbers.

"Hey guys! Sorry we're late!"

Everyone looked over to see Klein leading a large group of players as they charged into the boss room. Kirito blinked in surprise. "Klein?! What are you doing here?!"

"We saw the huge group of people that turned tail and ran teleport back to the town. Once they filled us in, I got as many people as I could together and we came here as fast as we could."

"Thanks Klein. We really need the help" Agil said appreciatively as he blocked another hit from the boss.

Klein showed a prideful grin. "Heh, well the hero does tend to show up at the darkest hour after all"

Helios rolled his eyes. "Alright Batman, I wouldn't take it that far"

With the numbers Klein had brought, things were starting to look better for the raid group. Finally, there was a chance. Alice looked over to Ren. "You ready?"

"Yeah" Ren said with a nod of his head. "Let's end this."

The two of them ran towards the boss at full speed. Flashes of light from sword skills hit the boss one after another from Helios and the other players. The Gigas Titan raised its hammer once again for its shockwave attack.

"Not this time!" Mai yelled as she jumped up and stabbed the boss in its knee joint. The boss roared in pain as it stopped its attack and kneeled down. "Now guys! Go for it!"

Nobody needed to be told twice as they charged in and assaulted the Gigas Titan, bringing it down to its last bar of health. Kirito jumped on the boss's now lowered arm and used it to jump towards the neck. His sword lit up with a bright light as he slashed at the boss's neck. "Finish it off!"

Ren and Alice did just that as they approached the Gigas Titan. Ren charged in and slashed both of the boss's legs. While the boss flinched in pain for a brief moment, Alice leaped into the air and held her scythe with a firm grip. She swung her scythe down and ripped a gash through the chest of the boss. Its health fell down to its last sliver, but it wasn't enough to end it. She watched helplessly as the boss prepared to strike at her.

Ren widened his eyes in fear as he watched the boss go in to attack. "Alice!"

Alice shut her eyes, not wanting to see the incoming attack. For some reason though, she didn't feel the hit. Instead she felt herself fall into someone's arms. Alice opened her eyes to see Ren holding her.

"Ren?!" Alice exclaimed. "But what about the boss?"

Her question was answered as she looked over to see Heathcliff standing in front of the boss as it shattered into fragments. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the Congratulations sign appeared in front of everyone.

"Phew" Helios said as he fell over to catch his breath. "We're gonna have one hell of a story to tell everyone when we get back"

"That's if Asuna doesn't kill them all first" Klein pointed out, causing everyone to laugh at the Vice Commander's expense.

Asuna's cheeks blushed red. "Come on guys! You make it sound like I'm some berserk general or something!"

"Well you are, aren't you?" Kirito asked. In response, he earned himself a bash to the head from Asuna. "Ow!"

Now it was Kirito's turn to have everyone laugh at him. Once the group had caught their breath, they got back up again and began making their way to the next floor. After the teleport gate was activated, the raid party went back to Floor 50.

Once they got back, Asuna had some very harsh words for the players that had deserted them in the middle of the raid. After laying into them for a full ten minutes, she let them leave with a warning to never do something like that again.

* * *

The day after the boss raid was a day for relaxation, and a much needed one at that. Ren and Alice sat together in Ren's secret spot enjoying their time together.

Alice leaned her head on Ren's shoulder. "You really do the most reckless things sometimes, you know that?"

Ren chuckled in response. "Yeah. You've mentioned that once or twice"

"And yet you keep doing it"

"In my defense, it's bailed us out of some tough spots in the past"

"Not before scaring me half to death" Alice pointed out.

Ren sighed, knowing that Alice wasn't wrong. He had been in some very close calls in difficult boss fights. He knew that it always made Alice terrified when he pulled off some of his reckless stunts, but if it saved lives then he would do it.

"Tell you what" Ren said as he pulled Alice in close. "How about I make it up to you?"

"Really? What exactly did my prince charming have in mind?"

"A special dinner at a fancy restaurant, just the two of us. My treat."

"How fancy?"

Ren gulped a little as he felt his bank account get a lot lighter. "A-Anything you want. Pick whatever you like best."

Alice grinned at this. "Well there's this one place in Algade that has some really good food. But it's pretty pricy"

"No problem. I can afford it"

"Alright then! Let's get going!" Alice said with an excited cheer as she got up. Ren got to his feet as well and walked off with Alice, knowing that he would need to sell a lot of drops to Agil before his wallet would ever recover.

 **A/N: So what did you guys think of the boss fight? I hope I was able to recreate the fight from the original version and improve it well enough. Next chapter will be out as soon as possible.**


	15. Secrets

**A/N: I'm back everyone. I don't know how many of you have noticed yet, but I changed the cover for this story to a commission I had done for Alice. For those of you that are interested, the artist was Akiie-chan on deviantart. I highly suggest checking out her artwork, it is amazing! She also happens to be a writer on this site. Check out her stories, especially Made From Glass. It's an interesting SAO story that I'm sure many of you will enjoy.**

Ren woke up with a yawn as the morning light peered through the curtains of the window in his bedroom. Looking up at the top right of his vision, he could see it was around 8 am. He closed his eyes as he tried to go back to sleep for another hour.

Unfortunately, someone seemed content with preventing him from sleeping. Ren heard the beeping sound that meant he had just received a message. He groggily opened his eyes and tapped the message window in front of him.

 _Can you meet up at KoB HQ? There's something I think you should hear._

 _-Asuna_

Ren groaned as he pulled himself out of bed. He didn't know what Asuna wanted with him this early in the morning, but it must be important. It was pretty rare for Ren to be called out for anything other than boss raid planning and there weren't any large field bosses on the current floor as far as he knew.

As Ren sat on the edge of his bed and equipped his armor, he took a look at his skill list. He scrolled down the list and looked at how far he had come since the start of SAO a little over a year ago. His one-handed sword skill was at 700, which was a little higher than most front line players had gotten their main weapon to, with the exception of extremely skilled players like Kirito and Asuna. He had leveled up all the way to 65, an accomplishment that was only thanks to the intense grinding he did.

There were several other miscellaneous skills he had on him, such as detection and hiding. But one skill in particular kept bugging him. He had no idea how he had gotten it, but it was there. It had shown up out of nowhere around the time they had defeated the boss on Floor 50. Ren had checked with Argo about it, but even she had no clue what it was, a shame since he ended up having to pay her a bribe to keep her mouth shut about it. Other than her, Ren had told absolutely no one about it, not even his guild.

' _I better get going'_ Ren thought to himself as he carried his tired body out of bed. He bought a loaf of bread to eat on the way to the HQ for the Knights of the Blood Oath. Ever since the guild had obtained such an impressive building as their headquarters, their reputation had only gotten better.

Ren finally got to the teleportation gate and called out his destination. "Teleport! Granzam!" The guild leader vanished in a flash of light and reappeared on Floor 55, the city of Granzam.

It wasn't a long walk to the Knights of the Blood Oath HQ. Ren finished the last bite of his bread and walked up to the front gate, where he was greeted by Asuna.

"Morning Ren" Asuna said with a bright smile.

"Morning" Ren yawned.

A few of the guild members standing guard at the gate rolled their eyes at Ren's behavior, as if not treating Asuna like she was his boss was a sin. Ren rolled his eyes right back at them. He had been woken up early and he was already good friends with Asuna. Formality wasn't really necessary.

"We received an odd request this morning" Asuna explained as she and Ren walked through the building. "We thought it would be best to call you in to help"

"Why do you need me?" Ren asked.

"We need someone that can analyze a situation quickly and adapt to sudden changes." Asuna told him. "This mission could prove to be dangerous"

Ren's curiosity was peaked at this. Just what was this request? The two of them finally reached the meeting room. Asuna turned to Ren. "The Commander and the client are in here. They'll explain the rest to you."

Ren walked through the open doors. Inside the room were Heathcliff and a couple other members of the Knights of the Blood Oath. With them was a group of players that Ren could only assume were mid-level players based on their equipment.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Ren" Heathcliff greeted.

"What did you call me out here for?" Ren asked, still waking up. "I'm assuming it's important"

"It is" Heathcliff nodded. "Let's get right down to business. I believe our clients can explain the situation to you"

One of the mid-level players stepped forward. "Our party was training in the fields around Floor 41 yesterday. As we were walking home, a group of players ambushed us out of nowhere. They killed two of our friends during the fight." He took a moment to compose himself and hold back his tears. "After that they took one of party members hostage, a girl named Heather. They told us that if we don't bring them one hundred thousand col by tonight, they'll kill her." He clenched his fists in frustration as he finished. "We don't have that kind of money. We came to the front lines, because we have no one else to turn to. Please help us! I'm begging you!"

Ren took a moment to consider the situation. Hostages taken for blackmail wasn't that uncommon on the lower level floors. The way the player was talking about it, the request seemed to be genuine and not a ruse to lure the front lines into a trap. Either that, or he was a really good actor.

Heathcliff stepped forward to talk to Ren. "Usually the front lines wouldn't get involved in minor situations like this. However, we've received several reports of similar occurrences like this in the past few months and have reason to believe they're related. We can't let players like these run wild in Aincrad. That said, as much as I want to put together an elite team to go and resolve the situation, most of our guild is busy working on clearing this floor."

"So you wanted a smaller guild to take care of it" Ren realized. "Thanks for putting all the grunt work on my guild"

"Please sir!" the man begged again. He bowed in front of the tactician. "I can't let these people kill Heather! She's only twelve! I can't imagine what she must be going through right now!"

"I never said I wouldn't do it" Ren told him.

He looked up at Ren. "You'll… You'll do it?"

"Of course" Ren nodded. "Like Heathcliff said, there's no way we can let people like these do what they want. We'll save your friend, don't worry."

"Thank you. Thank you so much!" he said.

Heathcliff looked at Ren once again. "According to them, they're supposed to meet the kidnappers in the fields on Floor 52. I'm afraid I can only lend you a couple members from my guild for this mission."

"I'll go" Asuna offered. "I can fight well enough to compensate for two people"

Heathcliff shook his head. "No Asuna. If someone as well-known as you goes on the mission, the kidnappers will get suspicious and the situation could go out of control."

"I'll wear a cloak to hide my face." Asuna said. "Like you said, we can't spare many people for this mission. If I go, it will be more than enough manpower to get the job done"

A minute passed by as Heathcliff considered Asuna's proposal. Finally he decided to give in. "Very well. But be careful. This is a PK group we're dealing with."

"Understood" Asuna replied with a nod.

With the meeting concluded, Ren and Asuna left the guild headquarters and walked out into the city. Ren began typing a message to his guild to meet up on Floor 52. After the message was sent, Asuna looked at Ren. "So how are you and Alice doing?"

The sudden question about his relationship caused Ren to blush slightly, causing Asuna to giggle at him. "W-We're fine. The two of us are getting along great"

"Come on Ren, I know there's more to say than that" Asuna said as she leaned in closer. "Give me some details"

"Why do you need to know this?"

"I'm just nosy" Asuna giggled.

An idea suddenly popped in Ren's head at a chance for revenge. "Are you perhaps trying to get some ideas to use on someone you like?"

"Wh-What?!" Asuna exclaimed. "Of course not! Th-There's no one that I f-feel that way about!"

"Oh really?" Ren smirked. "What about Kirito?"

Asuna's face was now in an all-out blush. "K-K-Kirito?! Wh-What makes you think I like him?!"

"Well you two have been somewhat closer recently" Ren pointed out, enjoying the embarrassed face Asuna was making. "You don't argue as much as you used to. Could it possibly be that you like him?"

Asuna grumbled as they walked. "Let's just focus on the mission"

"Whatever you say."

The two of them made their way to Granzam's teleport gate. They called out the name of the town on Floor 52 and vanished in a flash of light. When they reappeared, Ren and Asuna found the rest of Ren's guild waiting for them already.

"Yo Ren" Helios greeted with a wave of his hand. "So why'd you call us out here? Shouldn't we be working on clearing the latest floor?"

"We've got a different job to do today" Ren explained. "There's a group going around kidnapping players and demanding ransom money. Heathcliff told us to put a stop to it."

"So he's just pawning off the small tasks to us?" Helios asked with a roll of his eyes. "Seriously, you'd think we'd have earned some more respect by now"

"The Commander is asking Wyvern's Inferno to do this job BECAUSE he respects you" Asuna told him. "He needs a party he can trust to do this"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Helios said. "So why're you coming with us? We can handle this on our own"

"This group has been pretty active lately. The Commander thought it would be best to have as much manpower as we can spare in case a fight breaks out."

Helios burst out laughing at Asuna's statement. "Manpower? Please, I'm all the manpower we need"

"Enough Helios" Ren said. "She's coming, whether you like it or not"

"Fine" Helios moaned.

Everyone decided to ignore Helios's comment, something they had gotten used to doing when dealing with the psychotic player. Mai walked up to Asuna. "Well I'd love to have Asuna come along. It's a nice chance to have someone give me some tips with my rapier"

"Sure. I'd be happy to help you, Mai" Asuna said with a smile. "There aren't that many players on the front lines that use rapiers after all"

Once everyone was ready, Asuna equipped a cloak that covered most of her body as well as her face, and the group set out. For Asuna, it was a weird feeling to be wearing a cloak to hide her face. The last time she could remember doing that was back on Floor 1 when she first met Kirito, Ren, and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno. She smiled back on those fond memories.

The mobs along the way posed little trouble for the party. Per Mai's request, Asuna stayed in the back of the group and provided tips to Mai as they fought.

"Relax your shoulders" Asuna called out. "If your body is too stiff, your attacks won't be as fast and smooth."

"Got it" Mai nodded. She back flipped away as one of the monsters swung its weapon down at her and then charged in. She followed Asuna's advice and kept her shoulders relaxed. The smooth feeling she had from her next series of stabs surprised her. She felt like her body was a flowing current of water.

"That was perfect Mai! Keep it up!" Asuna cheered.

Mai smiled at the compliment from the Vice Commander. She had always looked up to Asuna for her skills in battle. Even Mai's rapier Shooting Star had been crafted by Liz, who was recommended to her by Asuna.

With the latest mob defeated, the party continued to move on. Ren looked at the map on his menu. "We're getting pretty close to the meeting point."

"So what's the plan?" Asuna asked.

Ren scratched his chin for a moment as he formulated a strategy. "Asuna and Riku will stay hidden. While we keep them occupied, they'll swoop in and help us subdue the group. For now, our main objective is to get the girl back safely. Keep that in mind."

Everyone nodded in agreement with the plan. Riku and Asuna hid behind the rocks as Ren's party turned a corner in the mountainous field. The group of kidnappers could be seen a short walk away. A young girl that Ren assumed to be Heather was in an arm lock from one of the players.

Ren and his party walked up to the group. Ren quickly analyzed the situation. There were six players, all at decent levels. No doubt there were more hiding in the shadows. He made sure to keep his cool as his party faced the kidnappers.

"Who are you?" one of the players asked.

"The party you ambushed hired us to get their friend. They weren't exactly trusting that you guys would keep your word" Ren explained, doing his best to keep the fact that they were front line players under wraps.

"Smart group" another one of them smirked. "You got the money?"

"We do" Ren nodded. He watched Asuna finally appear from behind the group. She slowly made her way to the kidnappers as she tried to stay silent.

Ren knew he had to keep the conversation going to give Asuna enough time. "What's our guarantee that you'll release the girl once we hand you the money?"

"I guess you'll just have to take our word for it" he shrugged. "By the way, is that girl behind us with you?"

Ren and Asuna's eyes both widened as he said this. The kidnapper reached for the sword on his back as Asuna dashed forward, knowing that she would have to make it in time or Heather was as good as dead. Ren did the same as he kicked off the ground. A cloud of dust appeared behind him as he reached the player as the blade was inches from Heather's body. With one swift motion, Ren grabbed the player's arm and sent a swift uppercut to his face. His grip on the young girl loosened and Ren jumped back with Heather in his arms.

"Are you ok?" Ren asked as he put Heather down.

It took a few seconds for Heather to finally nod her head. "Y-Yes. Thank you, sir"

Meanwhile, the kidnapper rubbed his jaw in pain as he recovered from the hit. "Damn. Lucky punk." He picked his sword up from the ground and prepared to charge at Ren and the others. "Alright guys, go-"

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about your unconscious friends over here, would you?" Asuna asked with a smirk as she pointed her rapier at his back. The player turned his head to see his friends all lying on the ground, moaning in pain. He looked over to where the rest of his friends were supposed to be hiding, only to find them in the same state while Riku twirled his dagger in his hand.

As he looked at Asuna, he was able to make out her face under the hood she wore over her head. "N-No way! Y-You're the Lightning Flash!"

"So much for being descreit" Ren sighed as he walked forward and drew his sword. "Alright, now tell us where the rest of your group is based."

"Ha! Like I'd tell you!"

Ren simply shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself. Helios."

The axe weilder didn't need to hear anything else. He walked up towards the player and cracked his knuckles. "Oh this is gonna be fun"

The kidnapper noticed the almost demonic look in Helios's eyes as he shivered in fear. "Alright I'll talk! Just don't hurt me!"

Ren rolled his eyes. That was a lot easier than he was expecting. "Go on. Spill it"

He grumbled as he began talking. "There's a valley hidden about a ten minute journey from here. Our base is there. But I wouldn't get any ideas about storming it. You'll be captured long before you make it there."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes" Asuna said. "For now, you're coming back to town with us"

A smirk became painted across his face. "You should know that if my friends notice we haven't returned, my friends could get… extreme"

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked.

"Oh please. You think that twerp there is our only captive? How safe do you think they'll be if they realize someone stopped their plans cold?"

Ren and the rest of his party looked at each other. They couldn't leave now without endangering the other kidnapped players. Ren quickly racked his brain for a plan as he thought about their next move.

When he finally formulated a plan, Ren looked at his team. "Mai, you take Heather back to town. Inform Heathcliff about the situation and see if he can get some reinforcements to come help. The rest of us will go and try to free the kidnapped players."

"Leave it to me" Mai replied with a nod. She took Heather and brought out a pair of teleport crystals for the two of them. "Teleport! Granzam!"

As Mai and Heather left in a flash of light, Ren looked at their captive. "And you'll be leading us to your base without any of your buddies noticing us"

"And why would I do that?" In response, Ren simply gestured towards Helios. Reluctantly, he gave in.

"Now that that's settled, let's move out" Ren said. They began walking, with their prisoner leading the way while Asuna kept her rapier drawn and pointed to his back.

Minutes passed on by as the group walked along the mountain path. Riku kept to the rear and made sure no one caught them by surprise. As they traveled, Asuna leaned her head over to Ren and whispered to him.

"What was that move you pulled before?"

Ren gulped as he realized Asuna had took notice of what he had tried to keep hidden. "Wh-What are you talking about?"

"You and I both know that I should have reached him before you did. Yet somehow, you made it there first and saved Heather in time. How did you move that fast?"

"D-Did I really move that fast? I didn't notice"

"Don't give me that Ren. You're hiding something, I know it"

"Look, can we just drop the subject for now?"

Asuna gave a hard look at Ren. She could see it in his eyes that something was troubling him. Whatever it was, it was most likely related to the thing he was hiding. "Alright. I know you must have a good reason for keeping this a secret so I won't pester you about it"

Ren gave an appreciative smile as they continued to walk. "Thanks"

 **A/N: So how did you guys like the chapter? What could Ren be hiding? I hope to get the next one out before long so you guys won't have to wait for an answer. Also, make sure to give Akiie-chan a look.**


	16. Crimson Flash

**A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back. Sorry it's taken so long for the new chapter of this story, but I've been busy adjusting back to college life. As a result, chapters may be less frequent for awhile. Sorry about that. Anyway, let's get on with the chapter.**

The journey to the lair of the kidnappers hadn't taken long. Within a matter of ten minutes, Ren and the others had already arrived at the hidden entrance. It was a small crack in the rocky wall of the mountain, so it had gone unnoticed by the assault team when the floor was being cleared.

Ren hated to admit it, but this gang of players were pretty crafty. Even he hadn't thought to check for small hidden places like this.

Once they made it through the opening, they found themselves walking through what felt like a canyon with how high the rocky walls around them were.

"Are we almost there?" Asuna asked their captive as they walked with her rapier staying pointed to his back.

"It's not much further. Don't go blaming me though if you end up dead."

Helios laughed at the statement. "Please. As if a bunch of losers like you and your friends could take us."

As they walked, Alice brought herself closer to Ren. "So what were you and Asuna talking about before?"

"Nothing much." Ren replied. He wanted to keep his secret hidden from everyone he could, and sadly that included Alice. Besides, this was hardly the time to bring it up. "She was just surprised by how high my AGI stat has gotten."

Alice looked at Ren with narrowed eyes. She could tell there was more to the story than Ren was letting on, but she decided to let it go for now. Right now they had a bunch of players to save.

Their trip continued for another few minutes. The player Ren and the others had captured was being surprisingly cooperative, which was something that made Ren feel suspicious. A player from a PKer group simply giving in because of some threats? It just didn't add up.

' _Were they really that intimidated by us? Or is there something else going on? Something we don't know about yet.'_

The group turned a corner through the area. In front of them was a large wall that showed they had reached a dead end.

"What is this?" Asuna asked with her eyes narrowed. "I thought you were bringing us to your base."

"That's strange" he said in an obviously sarcastic tone. "I know there's a trick or something to this part. What is it again?"

Now Ren definitely knew that something was up. Suddenly, he could hear the sound of footsteps behind them. Everyone turned around to face the players that were coming their way.

"Great. Now what?" Riku questioned.

"Now you die."

Without any warning, the captive player ducked under Asuna's rapier and sent a swift punch to her face. While Asuna regained her footing, he kicked off the ground and then used the rocky walls for support. He kicked off the walls over and over again until he made it away from Ren and the others and over to the incoming players.

"Damnit! He led us right into an ambush." Ren cursed under his breath. Usually teleporting out would be the best option but if they did that then the group would just move their base somewhere else and take the hostages with them, if they kept them alive at all.

"Looks like we're fighting our way through" Alice said as she got into her battle stance.

Helios cracked a condescending smirk as he gripped the handle of his axe. "You had one job, Asuna."

"Oh shut up!" Asuna bit back.

"Here they come guys! Get ready!" Ren told everyone.

The Pker group appeared from the corner like a tidal wave. There were at least fifteen players total, and all of their cursors were orange or red. They all had cocky grins on their faces at the sight of the cornered party.

"Look, it's the legendary Lightning Flash. She'll be loads of fun once we tie her down." one of them said.

"The black haired chick is mine. I can't wait to see what she looks like under her armor."

Asuna and Alice both gave looks of disgust at the players. Asuna pointed her rapier at them. "If you wanna try, go ahead. But I can't guarantee you'll have all your limbs attached at the end if you decide to fight."

"Let's go guys! Take them out!" Ren ordered.

At his command, Ren's party charged at the attackers. Ren dodged each slash that came his way with his high speed and countered with a series of slashes from his own sword. One player tried to attack him from behind, but a downwards kick from Alice sent his face plummeting into the hard rocky ground. Helios sent a few players flying back into the wall with a powerful swing of his axe. The air rushed out of their lungs from the hit. Asuna parried away the weapons of the players that attacked her and Riku followed up with a couple stabs from his dagger. One hit from the short blade was enough to paralyze them as they felt their bodies go numb and fell over.

It wasn't long before the rest of the party that hadn't been beaten to a pulp turned tail and ran. Ren sheathed his sword onto his back and looked at his own party. "Is everyone alright?"

"As if you even have to ask" Helios smirked.

"So what do we do now Ren?" Asuna asked.

Ren looked over at Riku. "Did you memorize the path we took?"

"Of course" Riku nodded. "I already made a mental note of all the forks in the road ever since we entered this area."

"Good" Ren said. "Their base probably isn't far from here, so let's hurry before they have a chance to regroup."

The party nodded in agreement and took off running. Following Riku's direction, Ren and the others quickly explored each path they could find. Luckily Ren's prediction was right and they discovered the hideout before too long.

The hideout made up an entire valley. Tents were pitched up and the area was crawling with orange and red players. If this didn't scream "PKer hideout", Ren didn't know what did.

Ren's party watched from the top of the valley, trying to stay as hidden as possible. Looking at the camp, the kidnapped players were nowhere to be seen. Ren assumed they were stowed away in some tent.

"What's the plan, Ren?" Alice asked.

"Give me a second to think." Ren replied, trying to figure out the best way to approach their situation. Suddenly, he felt the touch of cold hard metal behind him. He didn't even have to turn around to guess what it meant.

"Look at what we have here. A party of front line players."

Ren and his party slowly raised their hands in the air. They walked down into the valley, followed by the PKers that had snuck up on them. Now they were the ones who were captured.

As they were led down into the camp, Ren and the others could hear the snickers coming from the players around them. They were brought to the center of the camp, where one player with a red cursor above his head sat on a log. A large axe, even bigger than the Executioner axe that Helios wielded, was strapped along his back.

"You guys have been quite a nuisance to us today." he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kou."

"We don't care" Helios replied. In response, he was knocked down from behind and received a stab from one of the Pker's swords. His pride was the only thing that kept him from letting out a cry of pain.

"Helios!" Alice exclaimed. She was about to rush over to her friend, but the reminder that she also had a weapon pointed to her back kept her still.

One of the members of Kou's group walked up to Alice and cradled her face with his hand. "Hey boss, can we take our time with the two girls here?"

Kou sighed in annoyance and looked at Alice. "Feel free to punch him. I'll allow it."

Alice took Kou up on his offer and delivered a swift yet deadly punch to the guy in front of her. The hit sent him flying back and rolling across the ground. "Boss?! What the hell man?!"

Kou gave his underling a hard look that shut him up immediately before looking back to Ren's group. "You'll have to forgive my men. There's far too many perverts among them."

"Well at least you're not entirely rotten." Ren said. "But something tells me that asking to let your captives go isn't going to work."

"You would be correct" Kou said with an amused chuckle. "Instead, I have a little game for us all to play."

"A game?" Asuna asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yes. The rules are simple. We see how much the Knights of the Blood Oath are willing to pay to keep you all alive. If we can't come to an agreement, you all die."

Ren and the others glared at Kou. They were supposed to put an end to the ransom scheme going on. Instead they all ended up a part of it. All they could do was stand there and do nothing.

Suddenly, a message window appeared in front of Ren. The tactician didn't dare make a move to do anything. Kou instead seemed entertained at the ironic timing of a message. He gestured over to Ren. "Go ahead. Open it up and let's hear what it says."

Reluctantly, Ren tapped the tab in front of him and opened up the message. It only read a simple sentence.

Be ready to move. -Heathcliff

Ren turned his head around to the entrance to the valley where they had come from. In the blink of an eye, he saw a figure leap off and come crashing down into the valley. As the cloud of debris cleared, the player turned out to be none other than Heathcliff himself. Kou became stunned for a moment at the sudden arrival. Heathcliff used the opportunity to swing his shield forward, sending Kou off his sitting position and flying back. His body skidded across the ground painfully.

"Now guys!" Ren yelled. The rest of the party didn't need to be told twice as they each dealt with the players behind them before they could recover from their surprise. Helios was especially rough with the player that had stabbed him while he was lying on the ground.

Several other players came rushing at Ren's group, but a loud roar from the top of the valley made them pause. They all gasped as they saw several front line players come running down the valley. One of them in particular ran over to Ren and the others with a grin on her face.

"What's up guys?!" Mai said. "Looks like I made it just in time."

"Thanks Mai. We owe you one" Ren told her.

"Don't mention it. Now what do you say we kick some ass!"

Helios grinned as he got ready to fight. "Never thought you and I could agree on something, squirt."

Mai faced some players that were coming towards them. "Bet you I can take out more than you can"

"You're on"

"HOLD IT! NOBODY MOVE!"

The sudden shout caught everyone's attention as they all turned to see Kou standing over a young female player with his axe drawn. From the looks of his hostage, it was one of the players his group had kidnapped.

"Anyone makes a move and this girl dies!" Kou shouted. "Now all of you front line players surrender immediately!"

Heathcliff and the others stayed frozen. Ren stood still, trying to rack his brain for a plan. They had to do something or they were all finished. But at the same time, they couldn't endanger the life of an innocent player.

"I said now!" Kou repeated. "Drop your weapons!"

Asuna whispered over to Ren. "Now would be a really good time for a plan Ren."

"Working on it" Ren whispered back. So far, he only had one idea in mind. It was quite possibly their only chance of everyone making it out of this alive. But he still hesitated to do it. _'If I do this, my secret is out. Everyone will know what I've been trying to hide.'_

Kou was beginning to grow impatient. He raised his weapon to strike. "Fine then! You've just doomed this player!"

"No! Don't do it!" Asuna exclaimed.

' _Screw it.'_ Ren thought. _'It's now or never.'_

"Die!" Kou yelled as he swung his axe down. Just as the blade of his weapon was about to connect, he felt it hit something metal. It took Kou a moment to see Ren standing in front of him, doing his best to hold back Kou's massive weapon with his sword. "Wh-What the hell?! How did you get all the way over here?!"

Ren shouted over to Asuna. "A little help please!"

It took Asuna a second to snap out of her surprise. She didn't know what Ren just did to move that fast, but now wasn't the time to contemplate that. She dashed forward and thrusted her rapier at Kou. The hit from Asuna knocked Kou back a bit. His feet skidded across the ground as he glared at Ren.

"What the hell did you just do?" Kou asked. "No one should be able to move that fast."

"Under normal circumstances, that would be true." Ren said. "But this is a little something special of mine."

"Answer the question already! Stop beating around the bush!"

"You really wanna know?" Ren asked. He pointed his sword at Kou with a smirk on his face. "It's my Unique Skill. Crimson Flash."

Kou widened his eyes, as did all the other players there. Players with Unique Skills were exceedingly rare. The only known person with one was Heathcliff with his Divine Blade. Heathcliff didn't seem surprised in the slightest though at the revelation of Ren's Crimson Flash. It was as if he knew.

Ren continued his explanation. "The Crimson Flash skill allows me to increase my speed up to double its normal value. The only drawback is that I have to move in a straight line when using it, plus it's pretty hard to control."

Kou grinned at this and took his battle stance. "No problem then. If you can only move in a straight line, I know where you'll come at me from. This special skill of yours can't beat me if I can see you coming."

"Is that so?" Ren questioned. "Let's find out, shall we?"

In the blink of an eye, Ren seemed to vanish, leaving a dust cloud behind him. Kou grinned as he swung his weapon forward. Ren appeared right in front of him, but he disappeared again before the blade of Kou's axe could connect.

Kou gasped as he felt his axe only hit the air around him. "Where are you?! Come out and fight!"

"Over here slowpoke!"

Kou turned around behind him, only to see Ren was already right next to him with his Inferno Blazer coated in a red veil of light. Ren spun his body around and delivered two consecutive diagonal upward slashes to Kou, followed up with another two from the opposite direction. A large red gash that looked like an X was on Kou's chest as he cried out in pain. The skill continued as Ren dashed past Kou, sending one more slash to him in the process.

"One thing I forgot to mention." Ren added. "The Crimson Flash skill also gives me access to a new sword skill. It goes by the same name though, so Kayaba didn't seem to have a lot of imagination when designing it."

Kou glared at Ren, but stayed still. His HP was in the red, and he knew that he couldn't win with how outnumbered he was. He dropped his axe and raised his hands up. "Looks like I lose."

Ren smirked as he sheathed his sword onto his back. Kou and his group were all taken into custody by the Knights of the Blood Oath. They began escorting them back to town to send them to the Prison Area in the Town of Beginnings.

Heathcliff walked over to Ren and his guild. "You did very well today Wyvern's Inferno. Good job."

Helios showed a cocky grin on his face. "Well we did have the great Helios, so was there ever any doubt?"

"I remember you being the only one of us that got hurt by those 'weaklings' Helios" Alice pointed out. "What does that say about you?"

"That was a cheap shot! If we weren't captured at the time, I would've clobbered them all on my own!"

The rest of the guild shared a laugh at Helios's expense. Ren and the others brought out their teleport crystals and went back to town to call it a day.

As Ren and the others arrived back at town through the teleport gate, they could see the sun was beginning to go down. On a normal day, they would still be out in the fields working on clearing the floor they were on. But today had been tiring on them and a good rest was what they needed right now.

"What a day" Mai said as she stretched her arms. "I feel like I'm gonna pass out the second I fall on my bed."

"You barely did anything squirt." Helios told her. "All you were was our messenger."

"Hey, I had to do a lot of running to get to Heathcliff and lead them over to you guys in time." Mai said. "If we hadn't shown up when we did, what do you think would have happened?"

"Ha, you act like we were in real trouble. I was about to save everyone before Heathcliff came and stole our thunder."

"Sure you were" Riku said with a roll of his eyes.

Ren watched as Mai and Riku bickered with Helios over his giant ego. He soon felt Alice tap his shoulder. He looked at his girlfriend's scarlet eyes.

"Ren… can we talk?"

"Sure" Ren said with a nod. Alice said she wanted a place that would give them some privacy, so the twosome went back to Ren's house.

After Alice walked into the house with Ren, she gave a hard look at him. Ren had a feeling of what Alice wanted to say before she even opened her mouth. "Alice…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Ren lowered his gaze. "You're talking about my Unique Skill right?"

"Of course that's what I'm talking about!" Alice yelled. "I get keeping it from the front lines, but why didn't you say anything to the rest of us?! Did you think we'd blab about it?!"

"Alice I…"

"Do you really not trust me Ren?! I thought we were supposed to tell each other everything so why?! Why did you keep it a secret?!"

Ren took a seat on the couch in the room and placed his hands on his face. "Because I don't understand this. It makes absolutely no sense."

Alice stopped her scolding, seeing that something seemed to be eating away at Ren's mind. "What are you talking about?"

"Why was I chosen to receive the Crimson Flash skill? I'm not an idiot. I know full well that Asuna is faster than me when you factor in our AGI stat. The only way I can outspeed her is when I use the Crimson Flash skill to boost my speed. The skill description said it's for the fastest player in Aincrad, so why me? Why not her? It doesn't make sense damnit!"

Alice took a seat next to Ren and put a hand on his shoulder. "You've been that stressed over this? Ren, there could be a thousand reasons why you were given this skill."

"Like what? I'm not special. Take away my high speed and then what's left?"

"What's left is you" Alice said, causing Ren to shift his gaze towards her. "You're not just your stats. You're kind, smart, heroic, and one of the bravest people I know."

Ren muttered a quiet chuckle at that. "Brave huh? When I think back to the beginning of SAO, it's hard for me to agree with you."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

Ren looked down at the floor, almost seeming ashamed of something. "Alice, I need to tell you something. It's something I've never told anyone else."

"What is it?"

"It's about the reason I went with an AGI build." Ren explained. "Back when the death game started, I was terrified. I could barely think straight, except for the fact that I had to survive." He stared into Alice's eyes. "You know why I originally focused on increasing my speed stat? To run away if a situation ever got too dangerous."

Alice widened her eyes as she heard Ren say this. "Ren…"

"But then something changed that." Ren continued. "When we first met and I saw you fighting off that horde of monsters. I don't know why, but my body started moving on its own. I just kept running faster and faster, wanting to make it in time to save you and your friends." He showed a weak smile as he looked at her. "You're the reason I stopped being such a coward. For the first time, I was using my speed to save someone other than myself."

Alice blushed slightly from what Ren said. "M-Me? Really?"

Ren held Alice's hand. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the Crimson Flash skill. I was just too confused about it. But I do trust you, don't ever forget that."

Alice showed him a smile and nodded her head. "Alright Ren. Just promise me that next time you'll tell me if something's bothering you."

"You got it" Ren replied. "As long as you do the same."

Alice nodded her head and kissed him on the lips. Ren held her tightly as the two of them stayed trapped in their romantic moment.

* * *

Heathcliff closed the doors to the meeting room at the Knights of the Blood Oath HQ. He was all alone in the room, which gave him the space to think about things.

' _So Ren finally revealed the Crimson Flash skill.'_ Heathcliff thought to himself. _'It's about time. I had a feeling today's mission would pose enough danger to force him to use it.'_

The guild leader opened his menu and activated his GM access. Heathcliff scrolled down the list of the Unique Skills implemented into SAO, ten different skills in total. The Divine Blade had always been for himself, as it was the strongest one of all. Dual Wielding had already been assigned to Kirito a few months back, another player he was waiting for to reveal their power. A few others had already been assigned to other players in the game.

As he looked at the list, Heathcliff thought back to what Ren said when explaining the Crimson Flash skill. _'No imagination, huh? Leave it to him to say something like that. Still, I'm surprised on how well he's mastered the power of Crimson Flash. It seems I made the right choice giving it to him.'_

 **A/N: Now I know I didn't go into much detail about the Crimson Flash skill back in the original version of this story, so I wanted to use this opportunity to expand and improve it a bit. As for the next chapter, I won't say much but I will say that you should hide your rare items (I'll leave you guys to guess as to who or what I'm referring to).**


	17. A Golden Chance

**A/N: I'm back again readers! Found out the exciting news recently that SAO: Hollow Realization is coming to the US this year! Can't wait for it since Hollow Fragment and Lost Song were both so good! Anyway as with several other chapters, this one will be using the original but with some changes. Enjoy!**

The town of Floria was by far one of the more appealing places in Aincrad. The entire floor was covered in fields of flowers and other plant life. The town itself had become a very popular spot for couples going on dates.

Ren and Alice were one of the many such couples enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the peaceful town. The twosome sat on a bench together and held hands while Alice rested her head on Ren's shoulder. Petals of flowers danced in the air as the serene breeze made them feel at peace.

' _She really is beautiful when she's like this.'_ Ren thought as he looked at his girlfriend.

Suddenly a rustling sound nearby caught Ren's attention. The noise caught Alice's attention as well as the two of them turned their heads towards a nearby bush. The couple didn't even have to guess what the noise was as their eyes narrowed.

"Really guys?" Ren groaned. "Come out. We know you're there."

A few seconds passed by before Helios and Riku reluctantly came out from behind the thick bush.

"All of you." Alice added. At her command, Mai came out from hiding as well.

Ren looked at his three guildmates as they lowered their heads like a group of kids being scolded. "Seriously guys? Alice and I are trying to enjoy a date. Do you really have to spy on us like this?"

After a few moments of silence, Mai quickly pointed her finger at Riku. "It was Riku's idea! He made us!"

"What?!" Riku exclaimed. "No it wasn't, I swear!"

Helios went along with Mai's plan. "We tried to stop him, but he was to dead set in his ways to spy on you two like some sort of creep."

Riku looked at Helios with narrowed eyes. "Wow man. Just back the freaking bus right on top of me, why don't you. What, is making me a scapegoat not fulfilling enough?"

Alice groaned at her friends interrupting her and Ren. "Alright you guys. You had your fun. Now leave me and Ren alone."

"Fine" they all moaned as they walked away with an aura of disappointment.

Once the eavesdroppers had left, Alice went back to her date with Ren. "Those guys can be really annoying sometimes."

Ren chuckled as he gave Alice a peck on the cheek. "If it makes you feel better, I'll let you drag me with you when Helios gets a girlfriend and you want to spy on them.

Alice rolled her eyes at the statement. "Right, Helios getting a girlfriend. Like that'd ever happen."

* * *

"Why the hell did you guys blame me?!" Riku asked his two guildmates as they walked to the teleport gate.

"Mutually assured destruction." Helios replied. "If I'm going down, I'm bringing someone with me, and you were just too easy of a target."

"Besides, you were the one that gave us away idiot." Mai added.

"I was not!" Riku argued. "Besides, it was your idea to spy on them."

"You still went anyway though." Helios pointed out.

"After you decided to go with her." Riku countered. "What, are you jealous of them?"

Helios laughed at Riku's claim. "Oh please. I could get a girlfriend easily."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Really? You of all people?"

"Hey, I know I could get one before you."

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?"

Helios grinned at the challenge. "Alright then, it's on. Whoever gets a girlfriend by the end of the week is the winner. Loser pays for the winner's first dinner date."

"Hold up. I want in on this." Mai said.

Riku and Helios looked at Mai in shock. "YOU'RE gonna get a date? You're only 13."

"Scared of losing to a little girl?" Mai asked with a cocky grin.

"As if!" Helios yelled. "Fine then. The time limit is one week. If nobody gets a date, it's considered a draw. If we each get a date… oh who am I kidding? Riku's never gonna get a date."

Riku glared at Helios. "Be ready to eat those words."

"Challenge accepted." Helios grinned.

With the bet made, the three guildmates went their separate ways in search of a date.

* * *

Helios found himself prowling the floors of the front lines in search for a woman to woo. Normally the concept of flirting with another girl and getting a date would be beyond him but he would be damned if Riku of all people won this bet. There was also the looming threat of Mai finding a date before him but he didn't pay much mind to it. She's only a kid so he had nothing to worry about. But back to the task at hand he had to find a woman who met his standards. Pretty, unique, strong and memorable. He would not tolerate anything less than his expectations.

' _Now let's see here…'_ Helios thought as he looked at the women in immediate sight. _'Nope too low LV. Ugh lime green hair, too weird. Hmm maybe that one over ther- no, nope, looks too clingy.'_ Helios sighed as he moved past many girls on the front lines, pointing out the flaws with them in his opinion that made them unsuited for his tastes. He began to grow frustrated with his efforts at finding a girl with every single one not even trying to meet him halfway. _'Ugh this is so annoying. Oh well I got all week, better to just let one show herself naturally. Might as well do some hunting while I wait for her to show up.'_

Bringing out his axe Helios charged into the fray of battle as he began to slaughter enemy after enemy that dared to turn his way. Several players looked on as the infamous Unrelenting Psychopath, a title that was given to him by the whole of Aincrad and one he wore with pride, was running through the field decimating monsters left and right with his reckless rampage. Although his usual style of fight first, heal later was one he used often in situations like this Helios took note that his HP was starting to hit the lower side of the yellow zone. The one flaw to his berserker/tank style of fighting was that he couldn't just stop and heal in the heat of a battle and always depended on someone to heal him with crystals. So he was pretty annoyed when he remembered that he had no healing crystals meaning he would have to go all the way back to town to get some.

' _Ah whatever, I got to Lv66 thanks to my grinding. A level up isn't too bad for a day alone.'_ Helios thought as he started to backtrack. _'Still no girl in sight for me though.'_ As he started to walk back to the teleport gate a loud voice broke through his train of thought.

"Healing crystals! Get your healing crystals here!" A girl's voice shot through a handmade speakerphone. All attention was diverted to a girl with red hair tied in a ponytail behind a booth of some kind. She wore red lightweight leather armor with shoulder plates along with a burgundy cloak. "One for 5,000 Col and five for 15,000 Col! Get them while they're hot people!"

Helios watched with interest as many players began to crowd around her booth to make some purchases. It seems that this girl was a merchant of some kind though it was strange to find one here on the front lines. These types of players tended to stay in the safe areas to circumvent the risk of any life threatening danger that might happen on the open fields. This girl had some serious brass to be coming in the direct front lines to do business so that had at least some of Helios's respect.

"Hey why are these prices so damned high?" one player yelled at the girl. "I can get three healing crystals for half that price over at the shops back in town!"

The girl wagged a finger at the loud player as she gave a knowing smile at him. "Well you see dear customer the reason why my prices are so high is because for one, I'm out here risking my neck to provide the good players of the front lines a quality service that they wouldn't normally find here. Plus if you decided to go back to town that means you have to take a good ten minute run back to the gate and then another ten just to get back to where you were. By buying the stuff at my shop you can prevent that annoyance of walking or being forced to use a teleport crystal."

"I can understand that but these prices are highway robbery! You can't ask any sane person to pay these prices!"

"Oh? I think you'll find that I can considering they are selling like hotcakes in a diner." The merchant quipped as her gave the player a stern look. "Now either buy something or leave. Time is money and if you are wasting my time then I'm gonna charge you by the second."

"Why you little-!" Before the player could ever pull out his weapon to teach this girl a lesson, he felt a jagged edge of a blade prickle at his neck in an unsavory manner. Looking down he saw the she was right in front of him holding a short sword to his jugular in a lethal motion.

The girl gave a sweet smile as she let out a voice that was laced with honey but injected with venom. "Careful there hun, prices aren't the only thing I slash in half."

"Y-Y-You're crazy!" he stammered as he fell back on the ground and crawled away from her.

"See you again!" She called with a wave goodbye as she watched him run back to town. She spun her weapon around skillfully and threw it back into its sheath. "Now then shall we get back to business? Who else wants some sweet healing items?"

Helios gave a low whistle at how the girl handled herself in that situation. She was no slouch in her approach and was threatening to boot, not to mention pretty cute. _'Not too shabby for a merchant. But let's see if she can walk the walk.'_ He raised a hand and called out to her. "Yo! Hook me up with five of those crystals."

Her attention immediately focused to the pile of money that was attached to the person calling out to her. Looking at her potential customer she took note that he seemed to be rather heavy set on his build for fighting meaning if she played her cards right maybe she could sell him more. Tank players were the easiest to con after all. "Of course, that'll be 15,000 Col please."

Helios nodded as he brought up his trade window and transferred the money to the girl as she in return gave him the goods he asked for. He took note of her name as it appeared in the trade window. ' _Dagger huh? A name as dangerous as that blade of hers. Hmm… I wonder.'_ He gave a smile at Dagger after the trade was successful. "Hey so I was wondering could I get a bit of your time?"

"Sorry there handsome but my time is money as I said to that loser from before." She said simply. "Plus I'll have you know that I have very high standards when it comes to the people I talk to."

"I'm willing to give 20,000 Col for twenty minutes."

' _Oh crap! He's meeting my standards!'_ Dagger felt herself drool a bit at the concept of getting that large sum of money by just talking to a guy for a bit. _'Well played handsome.'_ She clapped her hands to get the attention of her clientele. "Okay you all scatter! I have some business to discuss with tall, strong and dark haired over here."

The other players were a bit shocked at the fact that this merchant was willingly going to be in private with one of Aincrad's most dangerous and explosive players but decided if she wanted to risk her neck for money that was her business and not theirs so they scattered.

Dagger sat on top of her booth and began counting the Col that was recently given to her by the generous axe wielder. "So what did you want to talk about handsome? Not every day a guy gives a girl a large amount of money just to talk in this game."

Helios made a disgusted face at the prospect of _those_ types of 'services' being in Aincrad before shaking his head. "No don't get the wrong idea about that. I just wanted to ask a few questions."

"Oh?" Dagger asked as she raised a brow in amusement. "And what would that be?"

"Well for one what's a girl like you doing in the front lines like this?" he asked with his own raised brow. "I mean you sure aren't a common wallflower with that blade of yours but why risk it?"

"Oh ho that's an easy one. People on the front lines are suckers for anything that looks new and shiny that they haven't seen before. They are so drawn in by all the trinkets I have that by the time they finish shopping I unload a lot of stuff I don't need onto them and I take the money they so irresponsibly spent on aesthetic junk. Plus I do some fighting too here and there, shiny monster drops from the highest floors always are a high seller to suckers on the lower floors."

Helios nodded his head at her logic. A normal person would be disgusted at her actions and sleazy business tactics but luckily for Dagger, he was not a normal person. "Hey do what you gotta do to survive right? Good for you making so much money."

"Huh, you're congratulating me? That's weird of you to say that."

"How come?"

Dagger waved her hand back and forth as she gave a heavy eye roll. "Most people would see that as 'Immoral' or 'Dirty business practice' or even 'Robbery'" she emphasized the air quotes heavily. "But you saying it's alright to do it is kinda strange yet… oddly refreshing. Not even Argo is that accepting of my way of selling."

"Wait a minute you know that rat?" Helios asked.

Dagger nodded her head. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

He growled as he remembered her smartass smile she always had whenever he found her talking to Ren. "The girl gets on my damned nerves. One time I found her doing something shady looking and tried to call her out on it but then she threatened to spill some secrets of mine to the public of Aincrad if I said a peep."

Dagger let out a giggle at that remark. "Yep sounds like Argo alright. I don't think there isn't a single person in all of SAO that she doesn't have dirt on. Better be careful then handsome, us girls tend to have a nasty bite."

For some reason Helios felt the old pain from Asuna's rapier from the whole Sheeptar incident start to flare up again. "You don't have to tell me twice…"

"So anything else you wanted to ask of me?" she asked as she brought up her menu. "You still have about ten minutes left."

"Well there is one thing I'd like to ask of you."

Before Helios could get any farther with his request of a date, a loud ear piercing roar came out from their left side as a large hammer smashed through Dagger's booth resulting in its destruction and for the merchant girl to fly from her seat and smash right into Helios. Looming above them was an anthropomorphic large bull demon holding a two handed hammer and had a large golden ring going through its nose. The monster had blood red eyes and large horns that curved near the end as it breathed heavily at the two players. It let out another loud bellow as its name appeared above its head along with three bars of HP, Minotaur.

"Where the hell did that thing come from?!" Helios gasped. He looked at Dagger, but the redhead seemed too preoccupied with the shattered remains that used to be her booth.

"No… My shop… The money it cost me to get that booth…"

Before Helios could say anything, the Minotaur let out another roar as it swung its hammer. Helios grabbed Dagger and threw her out of the way. He then brought out his axe and felt the hammer smash against him. Helios struggled to hold back the massive weight of the hammer as it threatened to crush him. He and his axe were breaking under the pressure.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared above him and crashed into the Minotaur. Helios felt the weight subside as the monster moved back and away from him. He looked next to him to find Dagger glaring at the boss with her eyes filled with rage.

"THAT BOOTH COST ME 50,000 COL YOU BASTARD!" Dagger screamed at the top of her lungs. "PREPARE TO DIE IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE!"

Helios almost shivered in fear at the demonic tone Dagger spoke in. She let out a battle cry as she charged at the Minotaur. "Wait! You can't fight that thing on your own!"

Dagger didn't seem to hear him as she kept running towards the Minotaur. The monster swung its hammer down at her, but she easily leaped out of the way. Before her opponent could lift its weapon back up she charged at it. Her weapon lit up with a blue light as she delivered a swift series of slashes to the beast's chest, following up by kicking off its body. She grinned as she saw it topple over and crash into the ground.

"How's that?! Not so tough now, are ya big guy?!" Dagger yelled. "Maybe that'll teach you to destroy other people's property!"

The Minotaur slowly got back to its feet and glared at the merchant. Before Dagger could go in for another attack, she saw Helios run past her with a tight grip on his axe.

"Don't think I'll let you have all the fun to yourself!" Helios shouted as he charged towards the monster. He swung his axe upwards as the Minotaur swung its hammer down to meet his challenge. The two heavy weapons collided with a furious clash, kicking up a small shockwave. "Now Dagger! Switch!"

It took Dagger a second to recover from her surprise at Helios suddenly entering the fray. She dashed forward and got ready to strike at her exposed opponent. Her shortsword ripped through the monster's body. Dagger didn't stop there and continued to deliver slash after slash with her blade. Before long, the Minotaur was covered with red gashes.

"Now for the finisher." Dagger grinned. She charged in, but a sudden roar from the Minotaur caught her off guard. She was blown back and fell over. She tried to get up, but found her body in a stun delay. _'Shit! Come on, I need to move!'_

Dagger watched as the Minotaur stood over her and prepared to finish her off. She screamed as it swung its hammer down at her and closed her eyes. When the blow she was expecting never came, she slowly peeked her eyes open to see a large axe embedded in the Minotaur's body.

"Take this!" Helios yelled as he ran forward and delivered a powerful punch to the monster as he yanked his axe out.

' _No way.'_ Dagger thought. _'He threw his axe at that monster? That's insane.'_ She looked at Helios and saw the battle-loving grin on his face. She showed a smile of her own. _'This guy keeps making me more and more interested by the minute.'_

"I'll go in and get its attention, then you go in for the kill." Dagger told him as she got to her feet.

"Works for me." Helios smirked.

Dagger ran full speed at the Minotaur with a tight grip on her weapon. She slid under the monster's legs as it swung its hammer down at her and attacked it from behind. When the Minotaur turned around to face her, she smirked at it. "Big mistake, tough guy."

The Minotaur suddenly felt a massive pain come from behind it as Helios ripped through its body with his axe. It let out a cry of pain as it toppled over with only a small sliver of health left. Dagger stood on top of it as she prepared to finish it off.

"Now go think about what you've done." Dagger told it as she stabbed her blade down into it and took out its remaining HP. The Minotaur shattered into fragments as Dagger sheathed her blade. A window popped up in front of her, showing her the drops she had gotten.

' _Let's see how much money it dro-... What the hell?! Only a mere 500 col?! How am I supposed to get my money back for my destroyed booth if that's all it forked over?!'_

"Woo damn that was blood pumping!" Helios said as he cracked his neck. "Kinda disappointed that I couldn't kill it myself but we got results. So what did ya get?"

"Crap!" Dagger yelled in despair as she stomped her foot into the dusty earth. "That monster only dropped a worthless 500 Col! That thing was a freaking field boss, you would think I would get a little more but nope, let's just screw over the hard working merchant!" a sigh escaped her lips as she deflated a bit. "Sorry didn't mean to sound ungrateful but that booth cost me so much to make. 50,000 Col just flushed down the drain for nothing."

Helios gave her a consoling pat on the back even though comforting people was out of his element. "Look I know you're bummed about that money being gone but at least you're alive right? With your skills you can make that money back in a day max."

Dagger felt herself smile at the compliment given to her. "Such flattery will get you nowhere with me handsome."

The axe wielder smiled a bit himself as he gave a poke to her head. "Now who's trying to flatter who?"

"Well thanks again for your help…" the merchant laughed a bit as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I keep calling you handsome yet I don't even know your name."

Helios patted his fist against his chest and stood tall and proud. "The name's Helios, powerhouse of Wyvern's Inferno and the biggest, most lovable asshole in this entire game. Pleased to meet you Dagger."

"The pleasure is all mine." she said with a wink. "Now I think your bravery deserves a reward Helios. What can Dagger, merchant extraordinaire do for you?"

"Actually there is something you can do for me." He said as he brought out his menu and sent a message to her. Dagger's menu popped up in front of her as she received a Friend Request from Helios.

' _Accept Helios's friend request?'_

She smiled as she pressed yes and added him to her thin list of friends. "In addition to that I was wondering if you'd do me the honor of a date?"

"Pretty damn bold aren't you?" Dagger asked. "Not even a minute passes after becoming my friend and already making a pass at me?"

Helios shrugged, his smile never leaving his face. "Hey can you blame me? Just like you I have some pretty high standards when it comes to the women I hang around and after that Minotaur fight you just met all of them in spades. You're one of a kind and I like that about you."

"...You know normally a girl would think a guy is a creep for saving her life just to get with her but I know you're not like that. You're different and I like that so sure." Dagger said with a flirty wink. "Just know that I don't kiss on the first date handsome~"

Helios smiled himself and offered her his hand. "I wouldn't expect it from such a classy lady like yourself."

Dagger took his hand and walked back into town with him. It was certainly a sight to behold when the infamous Rip-Off Merchant and the Unrelenting Psychopath were together in town holding hands and within seconds rumors started to spread like wildfire. The two of them ignored the rabble around them and enjoyed the time they spent together on their date, not even noticing how time flew by until the sky grew dark.

As they walked down the streets a message popped up in front of Helios causing them to stop. Annoyed he opened the message that was sent to him by Ren.

' _Where are you? Haven't heard from you since noon. You better not be causing any problems for anyone, especially Lizbeth or Asuna. Remember last time?'_

' _Yeah thanks for reminding me of that dick.'_ He thought bitterly as he closed the message. With a sigh he turned to his date and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry Dagger but I gotta get going. My guild leader is concerned that I'm terrorizing the populace."

The merchant let out a small giggle and waved off his concern. "Oh don't worry about it Helios, I had a wonderful time today with you. Hope the second date will be just as good."

"Wait a minute did you just-"

"How about tomorrow at Floor 36? I heard there's a guy there who makes wonderful food for next to nothing. Okay? Okay see you handsome!" Dagger blew a kiss to the berserker and walked away leaving him by himself.

"...Damn that girl is something else. I think I found my one and true girlfriend. Hehehe hope Riku is ready to eat it and pay for my date because I'm getting all the high class stuff."

With a small bounce to his step Helios walked back to his friends at the floor they were stationed at. Both Alice and Mai were rather creeped out at his positive attitude when he rejoined the group but thought nothing else of it. Though both Mai and Riku had a sinking feeling of dread in the pit of their wallets for some reason.

 **A/N: So what did all of you Dalios fans think? I just want to say right now that Helios and Dagger aren't officially a couple yet. I wanted to drag it out a bit this time since I rushed a lot of ships in the original. Hope to get the next chapter out soon. See you then.**


	18. Crazy Love

**A/N: Hey everybody! It's time for the next chapter of the story. Also I'm not sure if you guys have heard yet but IBM has recently announced that they are making an actual SAO! Every SAO fan's dream is coming true! I hope all of you are as excited as I am!**

 **Well with that out of the way, let's get on with the chapter.**

Argo watched Dagger as she hummed a small tune as she counted her money with an occasional giggle escaping her mouth as they both were hanging around at Dagger's current base of operations. This unsettled Argo as her partner was never this chipper before hand and this sudden change in her attitude threw her for a loop. Not being able to read Dagger is dangerous as the info broker hated not knowing everything she could for her own advantages.

"So what's got you in such a good mood today Dagger?" Argo asked as she got up from her seat. "Never seen you so happy before."

Dagger smiled as she tossed another piece of Col into her large bag of cash. "Oh Argo, I think I might be in love!"

Argo rolled her eyes at that statement as she started looking through her files of info in her notebook. "Yeah I know but like I've told you around a dozen times you can't marry a large bag of Col no matter what benefits it gives you."

"I will still fight you on that but no it isn't about money believe it or not. I met a guy the other day, a tank player by the name of Helios and boy is he one that stands out."

Argo immediately stopped dead in her tracks as her notebook fell to the ground out of surprise. "...I'm sorry did you just say Helios? As in the tank player from Wyvern's Inferno Helios?"

Dagger nodded her head in confirmation. "The very same. Why do you ask?"

"Oh boy…" The info broker shook her head in disapproval. "Dagger I know you have a habit of involving yourself with dangerous people-"

"That was ONE time Argo." Dagger affirmed with a stern look. "I was a bit low in my quota for the week. I gave the extra funds back to the church after I turned the scam around on that jerk. You aren't allowed to talk about it anymore!"

"Anyway listen! This Helios is one crazy bastard. He's known as the Unrelenting Psychopath for a reason. No one but his teammates are comfortable being the same room with him because they're afraid of being attacked out of nowhere. He once beat up an entire guild of players just for looking at him funny, then he beat up another guild just for NOT looking at him funny. The guy's a nutcase in a handbasket and I don't want you getting into trouble because of him."

Dagger turned her head the other way at Argo's numerous and well founded statements. "Be that as it may, the Helios you are describing isn't the same as the Helios I know. The guy is a bit of a nut but aren't we all in our own ways? When we were on our date he was nothing but nice to me and we have a second date today."

"Geez Dagger… Well I guess I can't stop you from making this bad decision. You're a big girl, you can handle a bit of heartbreak on your own." she picked up her notebook from the ground and patted off the dust that was on it. "Anyway I gotta go meet several clients regarding some info on the upcoming floor boss so more likely than not I'll be busy all day so good luck on your date. Hope he doesn't attack you or anything."

Dagger rolled her eyes at her ridiculous statement and picked up her belongings. "Okay mom, I'll be sure not to let him touch me." she gave a goodbye wave of her hand to her best friend as she left her place. The merchant brought up her menu and shot out a quick message to her date. Satisfied with what she sent Dagger got dressed in the proper date attire and locked the door behind her.

* * *

"So what's the plan for today?" Helios asked Ren from his seat. "We got some floor clearing ahead of us?"

Ren shook his head. "Nope, today is a relaxation day. We still need that info on the boss before me and the other tacticians can come up with a gameplan on how to beat it."

Alice sighed a bit as she polished her scythe, clearly bored. "If only Argo was more willing to give the information away for free, maybe these boss raids could be done quicker."

"Well I know that I'm gonna spend this day going about on the town." Mai said as she got up from her bed. "I'm not gonna spend my day locked up inside like some kind of hermit when there's fun to be had."

Helios rolled his eyes from his seat at the young girl's claim, knowing the true reason as to why she wanted to get out into the town. Considering she and Riku had less than three days to get a date by week's end she must be feeling the pressure of the situation. Good thing he had nothing to worry about now that he had met Dagger. If anything he was looking forward to his second date with the eccentric merchant girl as his first one with her was certainly one to remember. As he got up from his seat he suddenly got a message from the girl he was just thinking about.

' _Hey handsome, don't forget today is our date on Floor 36. Hope you're feeling hungry!'_

"Well I know what I'm doing today." Helios announced with a smile. "I'm headed to Floor 36 for some fun, don't wait up for my sake."

"Just don't cause any trouble." Ren said as he picked up his belongings and opened the door for Alice. "I don't want to have to bail you out of another situation again."

Helios flipped off his leader and friend and moved past time. "Piss off, I'll be just fine."

"It's not your safety I'm worried about Helios."

"Whatever dad!"

Alice gave a shake of her head in disapproval. "That guy will never find a girlfriend with that attitude."

'God I hope you're right Alice, I really do hope.' Riku thought in desperation. The deadline was fast approaching and he was striking out left and right. Helios would never let him forget it if he found a girl before him.

* * *

Floor 36: Normandy's Pub

"Helios over here!" Dagger waved at the player. She chose to wear a more casual get-up for their second date as she sported a yellow sleeveless top with a blue skirt that fell to her knees and a pair of slippers.

Helios himself took the liberty of not wearing his heavy armor for once and opted to go for a more casual look himself, wearing a burgundy shirt with a black pair of pants and matching shoes. "Hey there Dagger, looking good as usual."

"You're not looking too bad yourself there handsome." she flirted with a wink as she held his left arm. "Now why don't we grab a bite to eat and hit the town afterwards?"

"Sounds like a plan."

The couple entered the pub and were welcomed by the sight of many patrons moving left and right as waiters and waitress moved around to as well. The place was very lively and many seemed to be in good cheer despite the circumstances they were in. It seemed these people would rather make the best of their situation rather than let the depression of what could happen bother them. Far too often there would be times where Wyvern's Inferno met several groups of people who had all but given up hope of returning to reality so a place like this was a breath of fresh air for Helios's lungs.

He felt a small tug on his arm as Dagger began to drag him to the bar table. "Come on, I know the owner. We'll get our food right at the bar table."

He didn't even have time to say yes or no as the girl yanked him past all the other patrons and staff. Despite her thin looking frame she was tougher than she looked. They both sat down next to each other on two stools in front of a man looking to be in his early forties who was bald yet had an impressive looking beard. He wore a red apron along with a white shirt and brown slacks. He turned around to the pair and smiled wide as he laid eyes on the merchant.

"Dagger! How is my favorite little merchant doing? Not up to anything sneaky or illegal are you?" he asked as he patted her head in a fatherly way.

Dagger playfully swatted the hand away and rolled her eyes. "Not this time Normandy." she once again grabbed Helios's arm and flashed an innocent smile. "Just on a date with this handsome fellow over here."

Helios felt as though he was being examined like an antique as this Normandy gazed up and down towards him. Seemingly satisfied with looking at him, he placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a pat. "Good luck with this one kid. Dagger's a wild one with a sense of adventure than might get ya killed."

Helios scoffed at the bartender's claim and puffed up his chest with pride. "Thanks for the concern but I'll be just fine. I'm the greatest tank player on the front lines! There's nobody that has a greater offense or defense than me!"

"Really now?" Normandy questioned with an amused smirk. "So you are tougher than old Heathcliff? If that's the case then why aren't you leading the Knights of the Blood Oath?"

Helios looked away as a nervous smile graced his face. "W-Well I mean leading a whole guild sounds like way too much of a hassle for me to deal with you know? I'd rather let Heathcliff take the glory of being a leader while I improve myself to alway be ahead of him."

"See this one has quite the ego on him Dagger. Careful not to shatter his pride, us men can only take so much damage in that regard. So shall I get you and your date the usual?"

Dagger nodded her head. "And I trust it's on the house?"

"After you handling those drunks last week I think I can let you get away with one more freebie. But after that it's back to paying out of pocket." Normandy said as he disappeared behind a door to what was presumably the kitchen to make their meal.

"So how do you know about this place?" Helios asked figuring this was as any good way to start conversation.

Dagger gave a nostalgic sigh as she stared at the ceiling. "Honestly I forget when I found this place, all I know is that I helped Normandy out in a time of need. Back then I was only in it to make a quick stack of Col but after seeing what the guy had been through I decided to let him pass by with my services for free." the merchant shuddered a bit at that word. "But after it was all said and done the old guy started treating me like I was his daughter or something. He's nice company, you don't see many people with a warm smile like him around often."

"Well that would explain him looking at me like that." He said with a small eye roll.

"Hey get off me you creep!" they heard a woman yell as a chair fell behind them.

Dagger and Helios both turned around to see a man who was clearly drunk harassing a woman who did not want anything he was offering. "Come on babeh!" he slurred as he got closer to her. "I'm made of moneh. I could get ya whatever ya wanted if ya came home with me."

The woman shoved his face away and tried to pry herself away from him. "No way in hell! Now let go or else!"

Dagger growled at both the disgusting actions of the drunken man and at everyone just watching this happen and no one doing anything about it. As she got up from her seat ready to bring out her weapon, Helios got up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't, no need to get your hands dirty. I'll take out the trash." Without waiting for a response he walked past the still patrons and tapped on the drunk's shoulder. "Hey buddy, the girl isn't interested in what you're selling. Beat it or else."

The man put his hand on Helios's face and shoved him away into another customer. "Back off ya little brat. I'm trying to score here so go ahead and piss off!"

"...Yep you're dead." the man was surprised when he was suddenly lifted off the ground and was smashed face first into a wooden table while being forced into a submission neck hold. "You listen here you ugly drunken shit." he whispered fiercely into his ear. "Me and everyone else here are just trying to enjoy our freaking meals. We don't need some lecherous little prick like you harassing women who don't deserve it and ruin everyone's good time. Now either you leave and let everyone relax again or I'm gonna tie your ass up and throw you to the orcs on Floor 20 and see what kind of 'fun' they have with you. Understand!?"

"Yes! Yes! Please for the love of God just let me go!" the man pathetically cried from the pain the teenager was giving him.

"Good. Now be a nice little tool and apologise to the woman and kindly get the hell outta here."

After getting the drunkard to make his apology and leave, the axe player returned to his date with a satisfied smile on his face. "So how was that."

Dagger answered him by giving him a small peck on the cheek making him blush deeply. "I think it was very chivalrous of you handsome~"

"Please, I only did that so we could enjoy our meal in peace."

"Well enjoy then." Normandy said as he came from the kitchen and gave the couple their food. "And I say you deserve a free dessert after that display."

The couple enjoyed the food given to them by the jubilant owner and had a lot of fun with the other customers playing all sorts of bar games and trading hilarious stories. Before long time flew by them as dusk started to cloak the sky causing Normandy to close up shop for all the younger patrons.

"Alright kids time to leave. It's time for the adults to be alone with the booze!" He called as he ushered out the younger players. When Helios and Dagger passed him by, he gave a small pat to the axe player's shoulder and flashed a warm smile. "Come back again kid, don't be a stranger."

The teen gave Normandy a thumbs up as he left with his date back into the main town. The town was bustling with life as players were moving left and right to enjoy the night scene. Helios took it upon himself to show Dagger the places he enjoyed when he was alone. They skipped stones by the lake under the bridge as well as sat under a nice bench in the park secluded from the others and enjoyed watching the stars as they came into view. Dagger enjoyed the feeling of being next to Helios, her arm wrapped around his own but frowned in annoyance as a message popped up in her face from Argo.

' _Dagger, I need some help dealing with some rowdy buyers. They're trying to undercut me on my prices and I was hoping you could 'convince' them to see my way. Please come by soon.'_

She groaned in frustration as she let go of Helios's arm who looked at her in confusion. "Sorry Helios but a friend needs my help right now." she took notice of his displeased face and gave him a wink. "Don't worry, we'll meet up again tomorrow for another fun night." She nuzzled her cheek against his for a quick second and got up from her seat leaving her date blushing hard. "See you next time handsome~ I'll let you choose the location. Bye bye!"

* * *

Date after date the two players went on as the week progressed. Every time they grew closer as night came upon their outings with Dagger always being the bolder of the two. She always took satisfaction in seeing Helios glow red with embarrassment after every kiss to the cheek she would deliver at the end of each night. As Friday came Helios had asked the merchant if she had belonged to any guild to speak of.

"Not that I can say. I'm business partners with Argo but that's about it." she confessed at his side. "Why ask?"

"Well I was wondering if you'd like to join the guild I'm a part of, Wyvern's Inferno." He suggested as he put an arm around her shoulder. "You could be our guild's merchant and finance handler and… well we could be together more often."

Dagger smirked as she snuggled up a bit closer to him. "Oh so this is more about you than it is about your friends. Buuuuuuut, considering I like you more than I do most people I might consider it if it's worth my while to join.

The tank player smiled as he held her closer. It was by no means a straight yes but he'd take a maybe over a rejection.

Soon enough the week came to a close as Saturday came upon them. Helios walked down the downtown of Floor 57 with Dagger in hand as they walked down to the agreed meet up spot to settle this competition.

"So who exactly were your opponents in this little competition you set up?" Dagger asked.

"Two of my guildmates." Helios explained. "There's the squirt of the group Mai, and also…" Helios paused as he looked over at the meeting spot and saw Riku alone. "Him."

"Seems like he doesn't have a date." Dagger said. "That's a pity."

"Don't worry. You'll get used to seeing Riku act like a disappointment." Helios sneered. He and Dagger walked up to Riku, who couldn't believe the fact that Helios had a girl with him. She even seemed happy to be with him. The worst part was the egotistical grin on Helios's face as he smirked at Riku. "So where's your girlfriend, Romeo?"

Riku looked away and mumbled to himself.

Helios brought his hand to his ear. "I'm sorry, what was that? Was it that you were wrong about being able to get a girlfriend before me, or the fact that you could get one at all."

"Alright! You win! Are you happy?!" Riku yelled at him.

"Very much so."

Riku groaned in annoyance. "Well at least I'll be splitting the bill with Mai. No way could she have gotten a date."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Riku shivered as he heard the cheerful voice of Mai and looked over to see her walking over to them as she held hands with another player. "Guess who got herself a date?"

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Riku groaned. "It's bad enough that I had to lose to Helios, but Mai too?!"

Mai giggled as she patted Riku on the head. "Poor Riku. So unloved. Maybe we can find you a nice lonely girl to hook you up with someday."

Riku swatted away Mai's hand and walked away with an aura of depression looming over him.

"I'll be sure to send you the bill for my dinner!" Mai called out to him as he walked away. Once Riku was out of sight, Mai opened her menu and brought out a small bag of col. She handed it over to the guy who was with her. "Here you go. Thanks for the help."

Helios stared blankly at Mai. "Wait a second. You paid a guy to be your date?"

Mai shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? There was no way I was letting Riku think he was better than me. Besides, the money I paid that guy will just come back to me when Riku pays for my dinner."

Dagger nudged Helios's arm. "Looks like you've got some sneaky people in your guild."

"Actually this is about as far as it goes for Mai when it comes to cleverness." Helios remarked.

"Excuse me?!" Mai glared. "That's some big talk coming from the biggest idiot in the guild!" She looked over at Dagger. "Seriously, what do you see in this guy?"

"It's stuff that only big kids can understand shrimp." Helios grinned as he patted Mai's head. "Now if you'll excuse us, I need to go see Ren."

"Ren? What for?" Mai asked.

Helios smirked as he and Dagger walked away. "Let's just say we might be getting a new addition to the team."

It took Mai a moment to realize what Helios meant when he said that. When it came to her, her mouth dropped. "What?!"

* * *

Ren had heard many crazy things come out of Helios's mouth. It was something he had gotten used to after a while. Hardly anything the psychopath said surprised Ren nowadays. This however was an exception to that.

"You want me to do WHAT?!" Ren exclaimed.

"Let Dagger join the guild." Helios repeated. "Trust me Ren, she'll be a great addition to the team."

Ren took a look at the girl Helios had brought along with her. Based on her equipment, she wasn't at the level of combat expertise that most front line players had. But according to Helios, she was more of a merchant.

"So what exactly can you provide for us, Dagger was it?" Ren asked.

Dagger smirked as she looked at Ren. "Well as a merchant, I have quite a few connections throughout the financial network of Aincrad. Not only can I get you guys better deals for your drops, but I can also sell stuff to Wyvern's Inferno's fans on the lower floors saying it was used by you guys. You'd be surprised how much players will pay for stuff like that."

Ren considered the proposition in front of him. Helios had high standards when it came to players he spoke this highly of, so Ren doubted that Helios was lying about her skills. A nice bonus to the guild's finances would be nice too, considering that small guilds like Wyvern's Inferno weren't as rich as the bigger guilds on the front lines.

"So? What do you think Ren?" Helios asked, silently praying he would say yes.

"... I'll think about it for now." Ren finally said. "Give me a few days and I'll give you an answer."

"Well in that case, would you mind adding me to your Friend's List?" Dagger asked. "That way we can stay in touch."

Ren nodded his head and sent a friend request to Dagger. She accepted the request and gave a smile to Ren. "Alrighty then. I hope to hear from you soon."

Helios and Dagger watched as Ren walked away. Helios leaned in closer to Dagger and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Don't worry. I'm sure Ren will see just how valuable you can be to the guild. See you later."

"See you, Helios." Dagger smiled as she waved goodbye. Now all alone to herself, Dagger skipped happily through the streets.

Joining Wyvern's Inferno would be an interesting bonus for Dagger. It had given her a particular idea of something she could do. But now that no longer mattered. She had gotten what she needed.

She was now on Ren's Friend List.

 **A/N: Ooooooo, what could the infamous Rip-off Merchant be up to? All of you that have read the original should know. Hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter.**


	19. Once a Thief, Always a Thief

**A/N: Hey everyone. Don't know if you've heard yet, but a few details about the upcoming SAO movie, Ordinal Scale were recently revealed. Unfortunately it seems we will have to wait until 2017 for it to be released, but I am still so psyched for it!**

 **Anyway, here's the chapter you all came to see.**

The virtual sun of Aincrad had set a few hours ago and the night sky blanketed the floating castle. In one of the inns on the latest floor, Ren was fast asleep in bed. It had been a long and tiring day with the latest floor boss fight and he was exhausted. Ren didn't even have the strength to go back to his house so he just rented a room at the inn for the night, as did the rest of the guild.

While the leader of Wyvern's Inferno slept soundly, a quiet knock was heard a t the door. After a few seconds, the door to the room slowly creaked open. Dagger took a peek inside to make sure that Ren wasn't awake.

Usually entering someone else's room wasn't possible without the person inside opening it first. But Dagger was able to get around that annoying rule because of one simple fact. The door could automatically be unlocked for people on a person's Friend List. This could be changed if a player altered the room settings, but she figured Ren would be far too tired to care about such things after such a difficult boss fight.

Dagger crept up to Ren and gently held his arm. She opened up his menu by waving his arm down. Then it was only a matter of setting up a trade window between him and Dagger.

' _Let's see what juicy drops Ren has.'_ Dagger thought to herself as she scrolled down his item list. She selected a few drops that he obviously wouldn't be using and sent them over to her own item storage. Picking the small stuff that nobody would notice, that was what made it so ingenious.

A low groan was heard and Dagger's body quickly froze. She saw Ren shifting around slightly in his sleep. Dagger didn't dare move a muscle for fear of waking him up. When he finally stop shifting around, she breathed a silent sigh of relief.

' _Better not press my luck. Can't have Ren catch me doing this.'_ Dagger thought as she tip-toed out of the room and quietly closed the door.

* * *

Wyvern's Inferno sat together and ate breakfast nearby the gate for the city on Floor 59. It was the day after the floor boss fight so naturally it meant a day off from clearing floors for them.

"So what are guys planning to do today?" Riku asked.

"I'm going shopping with Asuna." Alice said. "I also need to go pick up a custom order from Ashley."

Mai shot a teasing grin at Helios. "I bet our big bad Helios is gonna spend all day with Dagger."

"Dagger? Who's she?" Alice asked as she took a sip of her drink.

"I told you about her yesterday, remember?" Ren asked. "She's Helios's new friend that wants to join the guild."

"She's a lot more than his friend." Mai teased. "She's his girlfriend."

Alice spat out her drink as she heard the words come out of Mai's mouth. "What?! Helios has a GIRLFRIEND?!"

"Can you not sound so surprised?" Helios asked. "It sounds kind of insulting."

Alice was at a loss for words at the sudden announcement of Helios having someone who not only liked him, but apparently loved him. "Wh-When?! How?! What the hell happened?!"

Helios grinned as he leaned back and started his story. "Well it all started when Riku made the idiotic mistake of challenging me to a bet at which of us could get a girlfriend first. Even the squirt decided to join in, that was really an adorable sight."

"Hey, I still got a date by the end of the week, which is more than we can say for Riku!" Mai argued.

A looming depression hung over Riku as he felt that the only reason Mai and Helios bothered to mention him was to insult him.

Helios looked at Mai with a teasing smirk. "Oh yes squirt. It was very informative to see that the only way for you to get a date was to sell yourself off like a prostitute."

Mai became red in the face as all heads turned to her, wondering what Helios meant by that last comment. Mai quickly shook her head at them. "I-It's not what it sounds like! I just paid a guy to show up to the rendezvous point with me to make it seem like I had a date!"

"You cheater!" Riku exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at her. "I want my money back for that dinner!"

"Hey don't go blaming me just because you weren't smart enough to come up with it too." Mai told him.

Alice groaned to herself, knowing she was going to have to talk to Mai later. "So how did you meet this girl?"

"Well it happened many moons ago at the dawn of the last week!" Helios started in an overdramatic way, making everyone groan in response. "After accepting the foolish bet of our resident fool Riku I journeyed to the fields of floor 57 in search of a maiden that would satisfy my expectations. After searching for many hours, weeding out the unworthy ones I had finally found her. Beautiful red hair tied in a neat pony tail, a clean face free of any blemish, having a deadly twirl to her knife willing to pull it on a guy to prove a point. She was perfect, a true woman from the heavens sent down to me!"

' _Just how crazy is this girl if Helios finds her so perfect?'_ Alice asked herself.

Helios continued his speech about his true love. "After initially hitting it off we were ambushed by a foul minotaur who sought to dash my efforts in wooing her. And after seeing her hold herself in battle with me against the creature we proved victorious against him. After it was done I was rewarded with her friend request and a promise of a date. And the rest, well I think Riku can tell you the rest if his empty wallet can attest to anything."

Riku was mumbling something quietly as he looked away from the group. Alice sighed to herself and looked over at Ren and noticed him looking oddly at his menu. "What's wrong Ren?"

"I feel like some of the drops I got yesterday are missing." Ren said. "I don't remember selling them to Agil yet, and the list seems shorter than it was before."

"Was there any moment yesterday when they could have been taken?" Mai asked.

Ren shook his head. "No. I didn't trade with anyone yesterday." Suddenly he seemed to think of something. "Wait a minute…"

"What? Did you figure something out?" Mai asked.

Ren thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head. "No, it's nothing." At the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think otherwise. _'Could it be… no, that's too far of a jump right now.'_

"Well I've got nothing to do today." Helios said. "Dagger said she'd be busy so I can't hang out with her."

A thought popped into Ren's mind. "Did she say where she was going by any chance?"

Helios shrugged his shoulders. "Something about selling to some players. She likes to go to the lower floors and make some quick cash selling to the people down there."

Ren got up and stretched his arms out. "Alright then. I'm heading out."

"Where are you going?" Mai asked.

"Just to see what Argo knows about Dagger." Ren said. "I want to do a little research about her before I let her join the guild."

Helios felt a little nervous at Ren digging into Dagger's background considering she was somewhat infamous as a merchant. But considering Argo was her friend, he doubted she would say anything too bad about Dagger.

Ren walked away from his guild. In truth, he had already asked Argo about Dagger. She mentioned that Dagger had a few shady business practices, but other than that she didn't have many bad things to say about the merchant. He still felt something was off though so he decided a different method of finding info about Dagger. Tailing her.

With a wave of his hand, Ren opened his menu and went to his Friend's List. He scrolled down to Dagger's name and looked at her current location, which was apparently all the way down on Floor 1 at the Town of Beginnings.

Ren walked up to the Teleport Gate on Floor 59 and called out his destination. "Teleport! Town of Beginnings!"

A flash of light took Ren away from Floor 59 and brought him down to the Town of Beginnings. As Ren stepped off the altar, he thought back to when he first came here. It had been months, probably over a year. There were too many bad memories of the town.

Deciding to get back to work, Ren opened his menu again and went to Dagger's name on his Friend's List. He tapped her name and selected 'Trace'. Ren's vision changed and focussed on footprints on the streets that were made by Dagger. Ren followed the path she took and went out of the town gate. Trace mode was dangerous to have activated out in the open fields, so Ren decided to rely on the basic location his Friend's List gave him and his instincts.

After several minutes of following Dagger's trail, Ren was able to make her out in the distance. He managed to sneak his way towards her. He hid behind a nearby tree while Dagger stood out in the open.

' _What's she doing?'_ Ren wondered as he peaked his head out. He soon saw several other players come out from hiding in the bushes and walk up to Dagger. Judging from the equipment they had on, Ren guessed they were mid-level players.

"So what have you got for us today, Dagger?" one of the players asked.

"How about this little beauty?" Dagger said with a smirk as she opened up her inventory and brought out a one-handed sword. "This was used by one of the Knights of the Blood Oath. He sold it to me for a pretty good price."

Several gasps of shock were heard from the group as they gazed at the weapon. Ren squinted his eyes and realized that it looked familiar to him. Suddenly it hit him. That was one of the drops he had gotten from the floor boss fight the other day.

' _I knew it! She's the reason my drops from yesterday were gone!'_ Ren realized. _'Shady business tactics my ass! This is just stealing!'_

Dagger grinned at how interested her customers seemed by the weapon drop. "Now then, how about we start the bidding at 50,000 col?"

"50,000?!" one of them gasped. "Geez, you're as greedy as ever."

"I call it good business." Dagger said with a shrug of her shoulders. Suddenly she felt the cold metal of a dagger close to her neck.

"We see it more as highway robbery." the player that had came up behind her said.

Dagger quickly hid her surprise and composed herself. Keeping her cool was her best chance at getting out of this alive. "Now boys, is this really necessary?"

"We're sick of you ripping us off all the time." the player that seemed to be the head of the group said. "Now how about we start the bidding? All your items in exchange for your life."

Ren saw a single sweat fall from Dagger's head. _'Great. Now I have to go save the girl who just robbed me blind.'_ Even if she had taken his items, he couldn't very well let her get killed.

The player with a blade to Dagger's throat smirked. "You should have brought bodyguards little miss merchant." Suddenly he felt the point of a blade right at his back.

Ren grinned as he held his blade to the player's back. "I agree. Now if you would be so kind as to remove your weapon from her."

The group all gasped at how Ren seemed to appear out of thin air. "N-No way?! You're Ren from Wyvern's Inferno!"

"Always a pleasure to meet the fans." Ren remarked sarcastically. "Look, I apologize for whatever trouble she's caused, but can you please let her go?"

Not liking the feeling of metal to his back, the player lowered his weapon and stepped away from Dagger.

Dagger giggled to herself as she turned to Ren. "So you were following me Ren? Guess I need to be more careful."

"You were pretty careful when sneaking into my room at the inn last night and stealing my items." Ren glared. "You've got a lot of explaining to do when we get back."

"Hehehe, sorry about that." Dagger said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Would you believe me if I said I was going to pay you back half of what I made?"

"Nope."

"Yeah… I thought so." Dagger sighed. She and Ren began to walk off. Then only made it a few steps though before they were quickly surrounded by Dagger's group of angry customers.

"She's not getting off that easily." the head player said. "Now step away or we'll have to kill you both."

Ren gave an annoyed sigh as he and Dagger stood back to back with their weapons in hand. "Is it always like this for you?"

"Everywhere I go." Dagger replied.

The head of the group motioned for his friends to attack. "Take 'em out!"

All at once, the group rushed at the two players. Ren knew that the two of them wouldn't be able to hold them back for long. Their only chance was to make an opening right away. Ren sped at one of the players and swung his sword up in a swift motion, knocking the player's weapon out of his hands.

"This way!" Ren yelled over to Dagger. "Run!"

Dagger quickly followed Ren and the two of them burst through the wall of players surrounding them. With their higher speed, they would be able to easily outrun the group and escape.

"Where do you think you're going?"

From the corner of his eye, Ren saw a knife get thrown from one of the players. By the time he noticed it, he didn't have enough time to dodge.

"Look out!"

Out of nowhere, Ren felt Dagger shove him out of the way and get impaled by the knife. A paralysis icon appeared over her cursor and she fell over onto the ground.

Ren skidded to a halt as he saw Dagger fall over. The group of players grinned at seeing the merchant helpless before them, but they stopped in their tracks as Ren stood before her. He held his Inferno Blazer in his right hand and pointed it at the group.

"For anyone that wants to experience the speed I'm so famous for, feel free to come at me. If you're not afraid to die that is."

The group of players seemed hesitant to attack one of the top players on the front lines. Their leader soon snapped them out of it. "Come on, he's all alone! With this many people we can take him easily!"

"Is that so?" Ren asked. In the blink of an eye, Ren vanished from where he was standing and reappeared directly in front of him with Inferno Blazer veiled in a crimson red light. Five swift slashes connected with him from Ren's Crimson Flash sword skill. The attack ripped through his HP, sending it down into the red. The group turned behind them and saw Ren sheath his sword while their leader standing next to them fell to his knees, stunned from Ren's speed.

"Wh-What the hell was that?" one of them gasped.

"That was me at top speed." Ren told them. "Now then, does anyone want to keep going?"

Then entire group knew they had no chance of winning against Ren's speed at their levels so they all quickly ran away. Their leader soon followed them yelling back to Ren "You'll regret this!"

Ren rolled his eyes as he walked over to Dagger and looked down at her. He pulled out the dagger embedded in her and the paralysis soon left her.

"That was amazing! What was that attack?" Dagger asked with her curiosity peaked.

"I take it someone in your line of work has heard the rumor of my Unique Skill?" Ren asked her.

"Oooo, so THAT'S the rumored Crimson Flash I've heard so much about!" Dagger grinned. "Too bad I'm not an info broker. I could make a fortune selling info about that with the right connections."

"Speaking of selling." Ren glared. "You still owe me an explanation."

"Hehehe… Sorry about that." Dagger sighed. "I tend to get a bit out of control when I see a profit in front of me."

"So the whole ploy about adding you to my Friend's List was just so you could get into my room at the inn?"

Dagger grinned at Ren. "Impressive. Helios wasn't kidding when he said you were sharp."

Ren glared at Dagger. "So did you just pretend to like Helios just so you could steal from me?"

"W-Woah! Hold on there!" Dagger said. "I know I haven't been the most honest person, but I wasn't lying about my feelings towards Helios. I really do like him and I'd never try anything that would hurt him."

Ren decided to trust Dagger on that note. He sensed a sincere feeling from Dagger's voice. "Alright. One more thing though, why did you take that attack for me there?"

"First rule of being a merchant, Ren. Always protect your client."

Dagger watched as Ren opened his menu and scrolled down his Friend's List. A feeling of fear overtook her as she thought he was going to tell Helios about what she had done. "Ren, I'll return the drops I took from you. I'll accept whatever punishment you see fit but please don't tell-" Dagger was cut off as a window popped up in front of her.

Will you accept Ren's request to join Wyvern's Inferno?

Dagger looked at Ren in shock. Before she could say anything, Ren added something.

"You can join on two conditions." Ren said. "The first is that you don't steal from me or anyone else in the guild… except for Helios, since he's the one that put me in this mess."

"And the second?"

"You are to never break Helios's heart, no matter what. If you feel you ever need to break up with him, then fine. Just let him down gently. He's a bit more sensitive than he likes to let on."

Dagger could feel just how much Ren cared for Helios as a friend from those words. She didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust him. She nodded her head with a smile as she pressed the 'Accept' tab. "Deal."

"Alright then." Ren said, reaching out his hand. "Dagger, welcome to Wyvern's Inferno."

Dagger accept Ren's handshake. "Don't you worry Ren. With me around, we'll be swimming in col in no time. I guarantee it."

 **A/N: I hope everyone liked the chapter and the fact that Dagger is officially part of the guild now. And now for an important announcement. For those of you that have been reading this but have not yet gone to Blazing Revolution to avoid spoilers, I am happy to announce that you are free to go to Blazing Revolution without any spoilers. Everything that happens in this story from here to the beginning of Blazing Revolution either involves the cannon storyline of the Aincrad Arc or doesn't make any important need to know revelations.**

 **I am not saying that the rest of this story is going to be boring, because it will not by any means. I hope to keep you readers on the edge of your seats for the entirety of this story. This is just for all of you that really want to go on to the sequel. If you want to keep reading this story until it's end before going onto the sequel, then that's fine too. No matter what you choose, I hope you will all continue to enjoy reading this story.**


	20. Meeting the Guild

**A/N: Ok everyone. This is the last Dagger focused chapter for awhile now, since I'm sure you all want to get back to the main story. The next chapter might take some time to get out though cause I have finals coming up soon. Anyways, on with the chapter!**

Dagger let out a yawn as she got out of the bed of the inn she was staying at. She was used to getting up early to sell to the morning rush so it didn't bother her much that Ren had told her to meet up first thing in the morning.

' _Still…'_ Dagger thought. _'I wish I was getting up early to make some cash instead of training in the fields. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get used to this now that I'm in a guild.'_

Dagger sat on the edge of her bed and proceeded to equip her armor. Now that she was a part of Wyvern's Inferno, Dagger's hooded cloak that she wore had changed its colors to red and black in order to match the guild's colors. She had to admit, it actually looked pretty good on her.

Looking at her HUD, Dagger could see it was getting close to the meeting time. She left the inn, quickly grabbed something to eat on the road and headed out to the meeting spot Ren had told her about.

Outside of Ren and Helios, Dagger didn't really know any of the other guild members. She had met Mai and Riku back during the bet Helios had made with them, but she hadn't had any extended conversation with them. If her memory served her, there was also a girl named Alice that Helios spoke of briefly. If anything, today would be a good chance to meet them. Find out their hobbies, what they like, maybe even sell some stuff to one or two of them if she was lucky.

Dagger stood on the teleport gate and teleported to the current front lines, Floor 60. The floor had just recently been unlocked so not much exploration had been done yet. The town itself rested next to a shore. On the other side of town was the fields for the floor, which seemed to consist of a long trek up a mountainside.

Dagger looked at the message Ren had sent her again to figure out where exactly she was supposed to meet them. After maneuvering her way through the town, Dagger saw Ren, Helios, and the rest of her new guildmates waiting for her.

Helios noticed his girlfriend and waved over to her. "Hey Dagger! Over here!"

Putting her usual innocent smile on her face, Dagger ran over to the group. "Hey guys. Sorry if I made you wait."

"No worries. We just got here a few minutes ago ourselves." Alice assured her.

Ren took a step forward and turned around to face the rest of his guild. "I'll introduce you then. Everyone this is Dagger, our newest member. Dagger, you already know Helios so I'll introduce you to the rest of the guild. This is Alice, Riku, and Mai."

"Nice to meet you." Alice greeted with a smile.

"I hope we can get along." Mai said.

Riku didn't say much and instead simply stared blankly at Dagger. "Why? Why Helios of all people?"

Helios seemed to revel in the depressed feeling Riku had. Ren sighed as he addressed everyone. "Alright then. According to Helios, and based on what I saw the other day, Dagger already knows her way around a fight. So we'll focus the next couple of days on everyone getting to know her." Ren looked over at Dagger. "Today you'll be partying with Riku and myself. We'll focus on one of the early dungeons on this floor. Tomorrow you'll party with Alice and Mai."

"What about me?!" Helios complained.

Ren narrowed his eyes at Helios. "You two are already well acquainted. I'd rather give Dagger a chance to learn more about the rest of the guild instead of being with you the whole time."

Helios grumbled to himself as he, Alice, and Mai walked away, leaving Ren, Dagger, and Riku alone.

"Alright, let's get moving." Ren said. "Time to see what you can do Dagger."

For the rest of the day, the trio of Ren, Riku, and Dagger explored through one of the dungeons not too far from town. Ren could see that Dagger's fighting skills were a little rough around the edges, but she would be fine. All she needed to do was catch up to the rest of the guild level-wise.

The dungeon the three players walked through was a cave along the side of the cliff facing the town. Most of the monsters that had shown up were orcs and other demi-human monsters. Dagger could see that Riku was no pushover when it came to a fight, though she could see at times why Helios seemed to pick on him.

Deciding to take a quick break at a safe zone, Ren and his two party members rested against a rocky wall and ate lunch. Dagger felt it was a good time to talk so she asked something that had been on her mind.

"How did you guys all form a guild together anyway?" she asked. "There aren't too many small guilds that can compete on the front lines with guilds like the Knights of the Blood Oath and the Holy Dragon Alliance."

Ren finished his latest bite of his lunch before answering. "Well Helios, Riku, and I all logged into SAO together. We were all friends IRL."

Dagger blinked her eyes in surprise. "Really? You guys were all friends before SAO?" She looked over at Riku. "I'm surprised. You and Helios seem to hate each other."

"It's complicated." Riku sighed as he took another bite of his lunch. "The guy's a complete pain in the ass, but he comes through for you when you need him to."

Dagger nodded understandingly. She had gotten to see a little of Helios's softer side on her dates with him. "So what about Alice and Mai? Did you know them before SAO?"

Ren shook his head. "We saved Alice and Mai from a huge mob attacking them back in the first few weeks of the game. After that we all formed a party together and later formed Wyvern's Inferno."

"I'm surprised you guys haven't grow in size since then. Wyvern's Inferno isn't very big, but a lot of people know about you guys ever since the boss fight on Floor 25."

Ren shrugged his shoulders. "We were never that interested in becoming a large scale guild. Besides, that'd be way too much responsibility for me."

"More like you're just too lazy to do that much work." Riku teased.

"Shut up." Ren laughed back.

As she watched them, Dagger felt she was getting a better understanding of Ren. Based on what she had heard about him from rumors, she was expecting a serious, responsible leader. But ever since she met him, she could tell there was another side to him. He was serious when the situation called for it, but most of the time he was laid back and relaxed.

' _He was right, running a large guild would be too much for him.'_ Dagger thought as she let out a small giggle. _'But for this group, I don't think there's a better person to take command than him.'_

"Ren? Is that you?"

The sudden call caused Ren, Riku, and Dagger to all turn their heads towards Asuna as she waved over to them. Two members of the Knights of the Blood Oath were with her.

"Hey Asuna." Ren waved. "What's new with you?"

"Oh nothing much." Asuna shrugged. She looked over at Dagger and narrowed her gaze. "Who's this Ren? I don't think I've seen her before."

"This is the newest member of Wyvern's Inferno. Dagger." Ren explained.

"You guys got a new member?!" Asuna asked with widened eyes. "I didn't know you guys were recruiting."

"We weren't." Ren told her. "Dagger joining was under… unique circumstances."

"Like what?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Oh come on. How crazy can it be?"

"She's Helios's new girlfriend." Riku said from the side.

Asuna stood there for a moment, stunned by what she had heard. She picked at her ear with her finger. "I'm sorry, I think I misheard that. I thought you just said Helios has a girlfriend."

"…"

"… I heard wrong, right? Ren? Tell me I heard wrong."

"I wish I could say yes." Ren sighed. "Don't ask me how or why, but Dagger here is Helios's girlfriend and now the latest member of Wyvern's Inferno."

Asuna immediately sat down in front of Dagger. "Give. Me. Details."

Dagger was a little surprised by the attitude of the legendary Lightning Flash. She had heard she was like some berserk general or something. This was completely different than what she had been expecting.

Plus there was the fact that she seemed more gullible than she was expecting too.

An innocent smile became painted on Dagger's face. "Oh there's not much to say. I'm a merchant so I was selling stuff and then we met, and one thing led to another. By the way, you seem like a girl in need of some new accessories. I have stuff made from the highest quality of-"

"That's enough for now." Ren interrupted, pulling at her ear. "Dagger, we do not scam friends."

"Correction, YOU don't scam friends. I happen to have no problems with it."

Ren groaned as he looked back at Asuna. "She happens to be a bit shady when it comes to business. Take my advice and don't buy what she sells you."

"Ren?!" Dagger moaned. "Come on, how am I supposed to make any money if I can't scam any gullible suckers?"

"You can scam players in town later."

"… Do you promise?"

"Yes."

Dagger seemed content with his answer so she went back to eating her lunch. Asuna looked nervously at Ren. "Are you sure she's alright?"

"She may not be the most honest person when it comes to selling, but she's given me enough reason to trust her." Ren said.

"If you say so."

"Miss Asuna, we really should keep moving." one of the members of the Knights of the Blood Oath said.

"Understood." Asuna nodded. She got to her feet. "Well, I'll see you around, Ren."

Ren waved goodbye as Asuna walked off with her two bodyguards. Dagger looked at Ren. "I didn't know you guys were friends with the legendary Lightning Flash Asuna."

"We've known her since the early days of SAO." Ren said. "She's not as bad as the rumors say, trust me."

After finishing their short break, the three players got back up and continued exploring through the dungeon. By the end of the day, they had made quite a bit of progress and Dagger had gotten her level up a bit closer to the rest of the guild.

* * *

It was the second day of Dagger's training and that meant partying up with Alice and Mai. Dagger was interested in getting to know the two of them since they were the only girls in Wyvern's Inferno other than her. Alice was interested in getting to know Dagger as well, since she couldn't believe anyone would willingly go out with Helios of all people.

The three girls decided to train in the fields instead of going to a dungeon for the day. The orcs they fought along the mountain weren't much of a challenge for them. They all wielded small axes or hammers and such. Alice was able to keep up with them in terms of strength, giving Dagger and Mai plenty of openings to go in for the kill.

Alice back flipped away from the orc she was currently fighting as it swung its weapon down at her. Before it could pull its weapon out of the ground, Alice already had her scythe hooked around its waist. She easily ripped through it and brought its HP down to zero. Dagger leaned against her, back to back, as they became surrounded by two more orcs.

"I'm surprised how well you're keeping up, Dagger." Alice said.

"I've sold stuff on the fields of the front lines for a while now. A girl has to know how to fight to survive doing that." Dagger explained.

Alice smirked as the two orcs slowly closed in. "You gonna need help with yours?"

"As if. Just try not to fall behind." Dagger grinned.

Alice and Dagger both sped at their opponents. Alice parried the attack of her opponent with her scythe and finished it off with one more slash. Dagger nimbly dodged the swing from her opponent's weapon and activated a sword skill. Three consecutive stabs came from her blade and impaled the orc, causing the rest of its HP to vanish.

The two girls turned to face each other and gave each other a high five to celebrate their victory.

"All done over here!" Mai called out, sheathing her rapier as she walked over to the two girls.

With the latest mob defeated, the trio of Alice, Dagger, and Mai continued walking through the fields. Alice made a mental note of any dungeons they came across for the guild to explore later. When they reached the safe zone, the girls decided to take a rest.

As Dagger laid her back on the ground, she noticed Alice staring at her. "What? Do I have something in my teeth?"

"I just don't get it." Alice said. "What do you see in Helios? I mean, I've known the guy for almost two years, and all I can see him as in an annoying jackass."

"I wanna know that too actually." Mai added, sitting back up. "You seem like you still have your sanity. Why do you like Helios of all people?"

Dagger smiled at the two girls. "You know, a lot of people have been asking me that. Everyone seems to see Helios as this big mean brute. But if you look on the inside, you see he's really a big softy."

"You must really like him then, don't you?" Alice questioned.

Dagger smirked as she looked at Alice. "You bet I do. Maybe even more than you like Ren."

Alice blushed at the sudden comment. "O-Oh… you already knew Ren and I are…"

"Mhm" Dagger nodded, her grin still present. "Helios told me. What I'm wondering is what kind of inappropriate things have the two of you done together?"

The blush on Alice's face became even redder. "Th-That's a little personal."

"But you can tell us, right?" Mai said with an eager grin as she leaned in closer. "After all, we're all girls and I'm your sister. If you can't share this stuff with us, then who?"

Alice poked her sister's forehead. "Not happening Mai. I'm not giving either of you blackmail material on me and Ren."

"Aww, you're no fun." Mai pouted.

"Ok, at least tell me how the two of you got together." Dagger asked.

Alice wasn't sure whether to answer Dagger's question or not. The adventure she had with Ren in the icy caverns of Floor 30 had its embarrassing moments along with its romantic ones. "W-Well… um…"

"The spent a full day trapped in an anti-crystal area. When they came back, they were already a couple." Mai explained.

Alice looked at her sister with her face flustered. "Mai!"

Dagger giggled at how nervous Alice was acting. She looked over at younger of the two sisters. "You know Mai, I think you and I would make a good business team."

"What do you mean?" Mai asked.

"It's simple." Dagger explained. "Having a young girl with your good looks act as a mascot can bring in even more customers for my business."

Mai blushed slightly. "R-Really… you think I'm pretty."

"Hey, I know good looks that can sell when I see them. You mascotting plus my business smarts will be perfect together."

"Hmmm…"

"Don't even think about it." Alice said.

"What?!" Mai exclaimed. "Why? A cute face like me can sell stuff."

Alice groaned as she leaned in and whispered in Mai's ear what Dagger had in mind by "mascotting". Mai's expression quickly changed upon hearing it.

"I take it that's a no?" Dagger asked.

Mai feverishly nodded her head. "A definite no

"Ren already warned me about your business ethics." Alice told her with a knowing smirk.

"Hehe, can't blame a girl for trying, right?" Dagger said with a nervous laugh.

Changing the subject from Dagger's business strategies, the three girls continued talking about various things. Alice was somewhat surprised at how different Dagger seemed from Helios. Sure she was a little crazy, but to be fair they all were to some extent. She could see her and Dagger becoming good friends.

When the girls were finally done in the fields for the day, Alice decided to take the opportunity to show Dagger the guild's blacksmith Liz. It would probably be best for them to meet now instead of having Helios introduce her. Besides, Alice really wanted to see Liz's face when she told him that Helios had a girlfriend.

* * *

Liz pounded her hammer against a lump of metal in her workshop. It was a rare metal that Asuna had sold to her and she couldn't wait to see what kind of sword it would make. All of her orders were done so she didn't have much else to do.

Suddenly, Liz heard the door to her shop open. "Hello? You here Liz?"

Alice's voice registered in Liz's ears. "Just a sec! I'll be right there!" She quickly finished forging the sword, which turned out to be quite powerful.

After tucking the weapon away in her inventory, Liz hurried upstairs. She opened the door and greeted her friends with a smile. "Hey guys, what's…" Liz fell silent as her eyes caught sight of the red haired cloaked girl with Alice and Mai. She quickly grabbed her mace by the counter and got into a battle stance. "You! The infamous Rip-off Merchant! Get out of my shop!"

Alice looked curiously at Dagger. "Rip-off Merchant?"

Dagger let out a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head. "Hehe, looks like my reputation's caught up with me."

"Quickly you two! Get away from her!" Liz told them. "That girl's dangerous!"

"Woah Liz, just calm down for a second." Alice told her.

"No! I don't need her trying to blackmail me or spreading false rumors about my shop!"

"Look I promise she isn't here to do any of that." Alice assured her. "Dagger here is the newest member of Wyvern's Inferno."

Liz's jaw dropped as she heard this. "Newest WHAT?! Why is she with you guys?!"

Alice sighed. "That's a long story."

"Is she blackmailing you guys?"

"No, nothing like that. The truth is, she's Helios's new girlfriend."

A long silence came after that, with all of the girls standing still as Liz tried to process this information. The silence broke as Liz's mace fell out of her hands. "Helios… the biggest most annoying pain in the ass in all of Aincrad… has a GIRLFRIEND?!"

"The name's Dagger. Nice to meet you." Dagger greeted, offering the blacksmith a handshake.

Liz accepted Dagger's handshake. "Y-Yeah. Nice to meet you too." Suddenly she realized what she was doing and jumped back. "Wait, what am I doing?! You're the Rip-off Merchant! Every business in SAO knows about you!"

"Don't worry. Dagger's a member of the guild." Alice told her. "That means she won't do anything that would hurt us. Right Dagger?"

Dagger could sense to subtle tone of hostility in Alice's voice and nodded her head. "Trust me. I won't spread any rumors or anything like that. It would hurt business for me after all."

"And you won't blackmail me either?" Liz asked nervously.

"Oh would you look at the time. I better get going." Dagger said with an innocent smile. "Nice to meet you Liz. Hope we can be friends!"

Dagger rushed out of the shop before Alice or Mai was able to stop her. Alice sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. "Don't worry. I'm sure Ren will be able to keep her under control."

"I really hope so." Liz said.

 **A/N: hope you guys enjoyed everyone meeting Dagger. Like I said, the next chapter might take more time than usual to get out with schoolwork and everything. And for those of you that are interested, I'll be going to Castle Point Anime Convention! It's my second time going there and I am so excited, plus I get to meet Bryce Papenbrook (english voice actor for Kirito)! It's gonna be awesome!**


	21. A Difficult Battle

**A/N: Wow it's been a long time since I've updated this story. Sorry about that guys. Schoolwork and upcoming finals have used up most of my time. Luckily though I will be on summer break soon and I'll have much more time to write. I want to get a chance to update my other stories however so this one will have to be put on hold until I do. Don't worry, I should have the next chapter of this story up in a month, give or take.**

 **As for this current chapter, I decided to try something new. I got an idea from another SAO fic called Mother's Reconciliation by Kirito IRL (awesome story. I highly recommend checking it out). Anyway, in the fic, Kirito IRL has points where he sets up OSTs from the SAO anime. I've given it a shot when reading it and I found it does a really good job of increasing the mood. So after getting his permission, I decided to try the same thing for a certain part of this chapter. Feel free to try listening to it while you read it.**

"Alright everyone. I'd like to get this meeting underway."

After Heathcliff spoke, he stood up to address the group. It was time for the boss raid meeting for Floor 67. The ones in attendance besides Heathcliff were Ren and the other front line tacticians, as well as the leaders from most of the top guilds in the assault team. They were all gathered in the meeting room at the Knights of the Blood Oath's guild headquarters.

"The recon team returned from the boss room a few hours ago." Heathcliff began. "According to them, the boss this time is very… unique."

"Unique how?" one of the other guild leaders asked. "Exactly what kind of boss are we dealing with?"

"It's movements are very unorganized. It stumbles around like a person that's drunk."

"Seriously? Is this boss supposed to be some sort of joke?"

Heathcliff turned towards Ren and the other tacticians. "What's your opinion on the matter?"

Ren stood up to share his opinion. "Based on what you're describing, it's supposed to seem like the boss is designed to appear unpredictable. But in the end, it's still a program. It's designed to move and fight in a specific way. Figure out its attack patterns and it's as good as finished."

"You sure sound confident" the leader of the Holy Dragon Alliance spoke. "Are you that sure you can handle this?"

"I've been doing this for a long time, in case you've forgotten. We've managed to defeat the past twenty floor bosses without a single casualty." Ren reminded him. "I'm not saying it'll be easy, but as long as we stick to the game plan, we'll be fine."

The other lead tacticians nodded in agreement with Ren. The five of them, consisting of Ren and four other players known as Asami, Eve, Mako, and Shino, had been designing floor boss strategies ever since the group was formed by Heathcliff. They took pride in the fact that they had avoided any deaths for such a long time.

"Very well then. We'll leave the five of you to deliberate over our strategy." Heathcliff said, getting out of his seat. He walked out of the meeting room, followed by the other guild leaders. Now it was just the five tacticians all alone.

"Alright then." Ren said as he looked at the others. "Let's get down to business."

* * *

Alice stood outside the Knights of the Blood Oath's headquarters along with the rest of Wyvern's Inferno. It had seemed like forever since Ren had gone into the meeting room. Why did planning out strategies always have to take so long?

Dagger noticed Alice impatiently pacing around. "Alice, relax. I'm sure Ren will be out any minute."

"I know." Alice sighed. "I just hate how long these meetings take."

"And I hate how everyone's staring at us." Helios said as he glanced around and noticed several players that were standing around and looking at the guild. "It's like we're Aincrad's most wanted or something."

"They're not staring at us, they're staring at you." Mai pointed out. "No one knows what to expect with your psychotic ass around."

Helios showed a prideful grin. "That's because I'm unpredictable. It's what makes me such a great fighter compared to you mortals."

The guild groaned at Helios's inflating ego, while Dagger simply giggled. "That's my Helios. You tell em."

Alice sighed as she gradually tuned out the rest of her guild. She was completely and thoroughly bored. Usually she'd spend this time going shopping or selling her drops to Agil, but if she left Helios and Dagger standing around here with only Mai and Riku to give them company there was no telling what might happen.

A message window popped up in front of Alice and snapped her out of her thoughts. She saw that the sender was Ren and opened it. The message said the meeting had just ended and that he would be outside soon. Alice breathed a sigh of relief that the meeting was finally done.

Just as he had said, Ren walked out of the building a few minutes later. On the outside he seemed fine, but Alice could tell he was mentally exhausted.

"Took you long enough man." Helios said. "So what's the boss this time?"

"According to the recon team, it's supposed to be a weird looking monster that moves unpredictably." Ren explained. "Shouldn't be a problem. All we have to do is carefully analyze its movements in the beginning and we should be fine. The raid's tomorrow afternoon."

Helios grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "Alright then. Same routine as usual. We go in and kick some ass!"

Riku rolled his eyes at Helios. "Try and use your head for once. Brute force won't work against this type of boss. If you go charging in headfirst, you won't be able to read the boss's movements."

"Please. Like that would stop him." Mai pointed out. "We're dealing with the biggest idiot in all of Aincrad."

Helios gave Mai a condescending pat on the head. "Oh sweet innocent little Mai. So naïve as to underestimate my superior abilities."

Before long, Mai and Helios were bickering as usual. Their argument could be heard by the other players walking around so Ren and the others decided to leave them be and walk away.

"You sure it's alright to leave Mai alone with him?" Riku asked.

Alice simply cracked her knuckles in response. "I wouldn't worry. Helios knows what'll happen if he gets physical."

After parting ways with the rest of his guild, Ren headed home to rest up for the raid tomorrow. When he walked into his room, he planted himself on his bed and closed his eyes.

* * *

Heathcliff sat alone in the meeting room at his guild's headquarters. He leaned back and thought about what tomorrow would bring. Ren and the other tacticians seemed to have a good plan for dealing with the boss for Floor 67. Unfortunately, Heathcliff knew the truth about the boss.

' _Perhaps it's time I tested the players of the assault group.'_ Heathcliff thought. _'The time will come where they won't have my assistance for the boss raids. They should experience how difficult some of the bosses I designed can be.'_

Suddenly a knock was heard at the door. Heathcliff closed his menu and turned towards the door. "Come in." The doors opened and Asuna walked in. "Ah hello Asuna. What can I help you with?"

"Commander" Asuna greeted with a bow. "The parties for the boss raid have been set up. I wanted to confirm them with you."

"Thank you." Heathcliff nodded. "There is one thing I'm afraid you'll have to change though."

"What would that be?" Asuna asked.

"I won't be able to participate in tomorrow's raid." Heathcliff explained. "I'm afraid something urgent came up."

"C-Commander?! Are you sure about this?!" Asuna gasped. "Without you, who will be in charge of the raid?!"

"I'm sure you will do fine." Heathcliff assured her. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only strong player the assault team has."

"That may be true, but-"

"Asuna, I'm afraid my decision is final. As much as I wish I could participate in the raid, I won't be able to. Please find a replacement for me to fill in the last raid member."

"… Understood Commander." Asuna said. She gave a bow and then walked out of the room. After she closed the door, she could help but wonder what could be so urgent that the Commander would skip out on a boss raid.

* * *

The large group of players stood in the square of the town on Floor 67. Everyone seemed rested up and ready to fight. Floor boss raids had become a common thing by now among the front lines so it had become almost a routine for them.

Finally a flash of light came from the teleport altar and the party from the Knights of the Blood Oath appeared, led by Asuna. When players noticed that Heathcliff was absent from the group, whispers of gossip flew around the crowd.

Asuna decided to quickly get rid of any rumors spreading around. "Can I have everyone's attention? Something has recently come up so the Commander will not be able to participate in today's raid. In his place, I will be taking command."

Gasps of shock were heard throughout the crowd. It was extremely rare for a head figure such as Heathcliff to pass on a Floor boss raid. In fact, it was almost unheard of.

Alice looked at Ren curiously. "Heathcliff isn't coming? What could be so important for him to skip out on this?"

"Who cares?" Helios shrugged. "I'm tired of that guy always taking the glory. I can tank just as well as him."

Ren could hear small bits and pieces of conversation going around the crowd. The group was starting to worry simply because Heathcliff was absent. They needed to calm everyone down now before they started to panic unnecessarily. He knew just what to do.

"Alright then. Let's get moving." Ren said as he walked forward. His words caused everyone to look at him. He stood next to Asuna. "It's just another boss raid. As long as we keep our cool and work together, we can handle this no problem."

Murmurs and nods of agreement could be heard amongst the crowd of players. Ren breathed a small sigh of relief that they had managed to keep up morale. They would need it if they were going to defeat the boss.

Asuna walked forward and brought out the corridor crystal that had been set to the boss room. She held it up and activated it. "Corridor, open."

The portal opened up in front of Asuna and the raid group collectively walked in. Once they were on the other side, a pair of large doors were standing in front to greet them. They were standing in front of the boss room.

The tense air filled the group. Things always felt this way right before a boss fight. But they had gotten through plenty of tough fights before and Ren was certain they could do it again.

Asuna stood in front and faced the raid group they had assembled. "Alright everyone. Let's do this. Our mission is the same as always. Win and make it back alive." She turned her gaze towards Ren. "Ren, I want you to stay in back in the beginning and command the raid group. Analyze the boss's attack patterns and direct us accordingly."

Ren nodded his head. Usually Heathcliff was the one to stay back and lead, but without him here it was up to Ren to step in.

"Let's win everyone." Asuna said. "Today we get one step closer to freedom!"

Cheers and roars erupted from the players as they all prepared to attack. Asuna opened the doors, revealing a pitch black room. She drew her rapier and pointed it forward.

"Attack!"

At Asuna's command, the raid group charged into the room with an echoing war cry. They stood in the center of the room, with nothing around them.

"Where's the boss?" someone asked.

"Don't let your guard down." Ren warned everyone. "It's here somewhere. It could come from any direction."

As Ren said this, a low cackle was heard throughout the room. Everyone tensed up as they glanced around, trying to figure out where the sound came from.

"Wehehehehehehe!"

The sudden erupting laugh surprised Ren for a moment, but he quickly reacted and saw the piercing eyes of the boss staring at them in the distance. "Everyone move back!"

The group did as instructed just as the boss leaped at them. The loud boom that came as it hit the floor from its hiding spot shook the ground for a moment, making everyone struggle to keep their balance. The second the boss landed on the floor, the room became veiled in light, making everything clear. The group all gasped as they stared at the boss.

It was a humanoid-type monster, but it was down on all fours, with its body stretching out at least six meters long. It wore a raggy and torn jester costume, with the classic jester hat sitting on top of its head. Two extra arms sprang out from its back, each holding a large curved sword. A sadistic looking smile was painted on the boss's face as it stared creepily at the players. Three health bars hovered above its head with its name clear to read.

The Dark Prankster

 **(Play OST: Critical Phase)**

Asuna looked over at Ren. "Alright Ren. You're in charge."

"Got it." Ren nodded. He quickly issued out commands. "Stick to the plan everyone! Party A will keep the boss's agro on them while Parties B and C will flank from the sides! Everyone else, fall back and watch the boss's movements! Focus on avoiding its attacks and getting a feel for its attack patterns for now! We can work on bringing its health down afterwards!"

Everyone quickly followed Ren's orders. The first three parties charged at the boss in the formation that was discussed while the others jumped back away from the boss. As the two parties flanked the boss from left and right simultaneously, the boss took the two swords in its extra hands and swung them at the players. Luckily they had managed to dodge them and get in closer to attack. The boss cried out in pain as it felt a collection of blades slash at its sides all at once. Everyone avoided using sword skills to avoid being wide open to any surprise attacks the boss had. Just as Ren had said, right now they needed to get a feel for the boss's attack patterns.

Ren carefully watched each of the boss's attacks. They were a bit odd-looking with it wobbling around, but from what he could tell the boss's main attacks seemed to consist of swinging its two swords in various styles of slashes and stomping around with its hands and feet. He also noticed the party keeping the boss's agro on them beginning to get tired. He needed to make sure everyone kept their stamina up or the raid group would be in trouble.

"Party A, fall back and regroup. Party F, switch in with them."

Party A followed Ren's orders and ran back to the group for a much needed break. Party F, which consisted of Asuna and the Knights of the Blood Oath members, charged in as the boss tried to chase after the retreating players. A row of three tanks blocked the boss as it swung its two swords at them simultaneously. The swords were big, but based on the fact that they didn't knock the tanks back Ren assumed they weren't too powerful. As long as they didn't take a direct hit from them at least.

Asuna sped towards the boss as it stumbled around to regain its balance. Her rapier lit up as she delivered a series of consecutive thrusts to the boss's face, followed up by two others from her party attacking the boss with their weapons. They all jumped back just as the boss recovered and swung its two swords down at them. The blades slammed into the ground with a powerful display of strength.

The raid group kept its plan of switching out parties for the next ten minutes. Finally Ren felt he had seen enough of the boss's attacks to fully analyze its fighting style. "Now everyone! Charge!" A loud roar erupted throughout the group as everyone rushed at the boss, including Ren himself. He turned his attention to Party E, which consisted of his guild. "Alice and Helios, go for its front right leg. Try and see if you can get it off balance."

The two members of Wyvern's Inferno silently nodded as they sped on ahead. Their weapons lit up with a bright light as they slashed at one of the boss's hands that it was standing on. Their combined attack seemed to damage the boss slightly, but it still wobbled around just as before. Alice and Helios jumped out of the way as its hand came crashing down, nearly flattening them.

Ren looked at Dagger. "Go for the boss's face. That seems to be the area where it takes the largest amount of damage."

"Leave it to me." Dagger said. She held her trusty blade Rip-off in a tight grip as she ran towards the boss. "Helios, give me a boost!"

Helios saw Dagger running towards him and knew exactly what she meant. He got down on one knee as Dagger used him as a springboard and launched herself up above the boss's head. Her blade lit up in an orange glow as she slashed the boss's face, twirling her body as she did so. As her sword skill ended, Ren charged in and attacked with a sword skill of his own. Before he could get out of the way, he saw the boss's face staring directly at him.

' _Crap!'_

Ren watched as the boss inhaled and then fired a powerful breath attack down at him. The attack felt like a weight crushing down on him as he was forced to go down on one knee. His HP gradually fell down as the breath attack kept up. When it finally subsided, Ren also noticed a poison icon next to his HUD. The more concerning thing at the moment however was the boss's hand hovering above him.

"Look out Ren!" Alice called out as she ran in a tackled him away before the boss could flatten him. She helped Ren get to his feet and helped get him away from the boss. Once she knew they were safe, Alice quickly pulled out an antidote crystal and shattered it in front of Ren, healing his poison status. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks Alice." Ren said as he got to his feet. He pulled brought out a potion from his menu and quickly guzzled it down, recovering some of his lost HP. "That breath attack came out of nowhere though. I wasn't expecting that."

"Well at least now we know to watch out for it." Alice pointed out.

"True." Ren nodded. He looked at the rest of the raid group fighting the boss right now. They had brought it down to its second health bar. If things kept up, they could do this no problem. _'Looks like we didn't need Heathcliff for this fight after all. Things are progressing smoothly.'_

"I'll get the boss's attention." Ren told Alice. "When its distracted, I want you and everyone else to hit it from behind with everything you've got."

"I'm on it." Alice replied with a thumbs up.

Ren and Alice ran back to the raid group. Ren wasted no time giving out orders. "Party A, get the boss's attention on you. When it swings in, parry the attack and knock it off balance. Everyone else, get back and regroup."

The players all followed Ren's lead and did as they were told. The boss watched the horde of players running away and moved into strike, but a collective attack from Party A's members made it stumble back a bit. Ren took the opportunity and ran towards the boss. "Mai, you're with me!"

"Got it." Mai replied, running after him. The two of them quickly attacked the boss as it tried to regain its balance. Their attacks managed to get the boss's agro on them.

Ren and Mai dodged the slashes and stomps that came from the boss. The two of them evaded the attacks and slowly moved to the side, making the boss turn with them to keep an eye on its current targets. After an extended time of dodging the boss's attacks, Ren and Mai had finally managed to get the back of the boss facing the rest of the raid group. The two of them back flipped away as the boss stomped it two front hands were they had just been standing.

"Now!" Ren shouted. "Everyone attack!"

The large mass of players behind the boss let out a war cry as they all charged at the boss. Out of nowhere, the boss felt a relentless assault of sharp blades cutting into its body from behind. It let out a sharp cry of pain as its health was slowly sapped away, nearing the halfway point of its second health bar. Ren and Mai decided to keep up the pressure as they ran around the side of the boss and attacked its exposed rear legs along with the others.

' _Nice. It's almost down to its last health bar.'_ Ren thought as a smirk came to his face. _'We've got this.'_

Suddenly, the cries of pain from the boss stopped and were replaced by a loud and powerful shriek. Everyone paused their attack and covered their ears as the high pitched screech echoed throughout the room. It was then that Ren noticed the boss prepare to spin its body around.

' _Not good!'_ Ren thought. "Everyone move!"

Nobody could hear Ren over the boss's screeching. By the time they all realized, it was too late. The boss twirled its body around, creating a huge gust that blew back most of the players. As they landed painfully on the ground, they saw the creepy stare of the boss once again. It let out a sadistic laugh as it charged towards the raid group.

"Wehehehehehe!"

The tanks that hadn't been blown away were barely able to avoid being trampled by the boss as it ran past them. Ren and the others managed to put up their weapons in a defensive stance, but they were all knocked aside as the boss continuously swung its blades to the side like a chef using a knife to push away chopped vegetables to be used later. As Ren was knocked to the side, he saw the boss reel back its arm and knock another wave of players away, this time sending them flying midair. Their eyes widened in horror as they saw the boss stare at them and prepare to swing its blade.

"NO!" Ren shouted.

Ren's plea fell on deaf ears as the boss mercilessly swung one of its blades, ripping through the avatars of three players. They all shattered as they cried out in pain before they could reach the ground.

The raid group all stared in horror of what had just occurred. After all their careful planning and coordination. Despite the fact that they had an absolute rule to never let another player die, and making sure that rule had been followed for so many boss raids in a row. They had just failed in that mission.

' _Damnit!'_ Ren screamed in his mind as he slammed his fist into the ground beneath him. _'How could this happen! How could we let them die like that?!'_

 **(Play OST: We Have to Defeat It)**

But unfortunately, their troubles had only just started. They realized that as the boss lifted its head up and let out a powerful roar. The raid group stared in both shock and horror as the Dark Prankster stood up. It was no longer on all fours. Now it stood on two feet with all four hands free. It grabbed the jester hat it was wearing and threw it up into the air. Out from the hat came a pair of battle axes which it grabbed with its two free hands. The hat fell perfectly back on the boss's head as the players all gazed at its new form in horror.

"This thing has a different form?!" one of the players exclaimed in disbelief.

Ren felt his body shiver in fear. This was bad. This was VERY bad. They had only managed to take out half of the Dark Prankster's total health and exhaustion was starting to take its toll on them. And to top it all off, there was this new form of the boss to deal with.

"Ren, any ideas?" Asuna asked from his side.

"Umm… umm…" Ren desperately racked his brain for a new strategy. The sudden change had him rattled. "Party A- no wait, I mean Party D. Flank the boss from its sides!"

"But Party D doesn't have any tanks!" Asuna pointed out. "If they go in without someone distracting the boss, they'll get wiped out."

Ren widened his eyes, realizing his error in judgement. "Party E, get the boss's agro on you and give the others an opening. Go for a straight- no wait! Split up and attack from two directions."

Alice and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno looked at each other. Ren was second guessing himself on his orders. He had never done that before. Now wasn't the time to stand around thinking about such things though. They all charged in towards the boss with weapons in hand. They dodged the two strikes that came from the boss's swords and slashed at its legs. With the boss focused on them, the others ran around from the right to attack it while it was distracted. Suddenly the boss took an odd stance as it curved its arms around its body in a circular fashion.

' _An AoE attack?!'_ Ren gasped. "Everyone run! Get away from it!"

It was too late unfortunately. The boss spun around like a tornado, blowing the two parties into the air. As they all flailed around helplessly midair, the boss raised its two axes up to strike down two players. Ren widened his eyes in horror when he realized one of them was Alice.

"Alice, look out!" Ren yelled at the top of his lungs.

Ren's warning brought Alice's attention to the axe coming for her. She put up a last ditch defense by positioning her scythe in front of her. The boss's axe slammed against the handle and sent her crashing into the ground.

"ALICE!"

Alice groaned in pain as she managed to lift herself up off the ground. Her HP was in a deadly shade of red. She needed to fall back right away. That was going to be difficult though with the boss's attention still focused on her. Suddenly she saw Mai rush past her and towards the boss. She thrusted her rapier forward and stabbed the boss in the knee.

Mai called out to her sister. "Run Alice! I'll keep this thing distracted!"

The last thing Alice wanted was for Mai to be anywhere near the boss right now but she was in no position to argue with her current health. She reluctantly nodded and jumped back to a safe distance.

Ren breathed a sigh of relief that Alice was safe as she ran back over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Alice told him as she drank one of her health potions.

Ren silently cursed himself out. What was wrong with him? He was making mistakes with his strategy. Everything was happening too quickly. Ren took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He needed to calm down and analyze the situation.

"What's the boss doing now?!" someone gasped.

Ren opened his eyes and saw the boss take another odd stance. With one swift motion, it spun around a full 360 degrees with a sweep kick. The attack knocked Mai and another player off their feet and made their backs slam into the cold hard ground. Before anyone could go in to help them, a powerful breath attack came from the boss's mouth, blowing away the rest of the nearby players. Mai and the other player stared helplessly as the boss raised its two swords to strike. Ren didn't think twice when he ran towards them at full speed.

"Ren?! What are you doing?!" Asuna exclaimed.

The swords slowly came down towards the two players. One was headed towards Mai and the other was moving down towards the other player. Even with the speed of his Crimson Flash, Ren knew he'd only have time to save one. He silently prayed for the other player to forgive him as he rushed towards Mai and tackled her away as the boss's sword struck the ground where she had been standing a moment ago. Looking at where the other sword had struck, he saw the shattering remains that had been the other player's avatar. A tear fell from his eyes as he mourned the player's death. The cry of pain and horror coming from the raid group told Ren the dead player was probably someone's dear friend, maybe more.

The boss wasn't planning on giving Ren and Mai any free time to recover. It lifted its two swords up from the ground and swung one of them down at the two players. Ren quickly blocked the attack with his sword as the massive blade threatened to cut through him and Mai.

"Ren!" Mai gasped.

"Mai, get moving!" Ren told her as he struggled to hold the blade back. It was a miracle his defense hadn't broken already.

"But-"

"Move!"

Hearing the seriousness in Ren's voice, Mai nodded and fell back to the others. Ren struggled as he tried to find a way to get out of this. The second he tried to make a move to escape, his defense would be broken through instantly. He felt relieved when he finally felt the boss lift its sword up, but that feeling was quickly replaced by fear as he saw the blade of the boss's axe come from the side. Ren barely managed to put his sword up in time to prevent the weapon from cutting him in half, but it didn't save him from being blown back. He landed on the ground painfully and looked at his HP bar, seeing it in the red zone.

Alice helped Ren to his feet and shattered a healing crystal in front of him, restoring his HP. Asuna looked at Ren. "What's the plan now?"

Ren could see everyone staring at him pleadingly. He thought about what to do. There had to be a chance at them winning, right? Some possible way for them to defeat this thing.

"Party B and C… no wait, umm… Party F go and…"

The raid group watched as Ren struggled to come up with a plan. They didn't have the leisure to sit back and think forever. The boss was already moving in towards them.

Asuna didn't want to admit it, but it was probably best to cut their losses right now. "Ren…"

Ren looked at Asuna and knew what she was thinking. He didn't want to. He really didn't want to. But in this situation, there was no other choice.

"Give the order, Asuna." Ren said, swallowing a bitter pill. "We're retreating."

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? I noticed the anime mentions the 67th Floor boss fight as being extremely difficult, but they never went into more detail than that. So I decided to make up my own version of the boss fight, and part of it was inspired by a scene in another anime. Props for anyone who spots it. Also, for those of you that played the OSTs while you read, what did you think? Did it help the story at all? Review and give me your opinions. Also be sure to check out Mother's Reconciliation. It's a really good story and I think you'll enjoy it.**

 **Also for those of you wondering from last chapter's Author's Note, Castle Point Anime Convention was AWESOME!**


	22. The Responsibility of a Tactician

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter! I'm sure you're all excited to pick up from last time so I'll let you get to reading.**

Losing sucks.

Ren had known that all his life. There were always games he played where he lost. But he would just fix what he did wrong and try again. No consequences, no sense of grief nagging at him, nothing. But this was Sword Art Online and when you lost there were a lot of consequences.

The raid group stood in the square of the town on Floor 67. Flashes of azure light spread across the are as players teleported back from the failed boss raid. Ren and Asuna teleported out last after they made sure everyone had gotten out safely.

No one had much to say. The raid boss was far stronger than they had been expecting. That happened every now and then, but they had almost always pulled themselves together and figured out a way to win. They had never ran away. Not once since Floor 50. The players walking around could tell the raid hadn't gone well based on the group's expressions. When someone finally said something, it was Helios that broke the silence.

"That could have gone better."

Ren leaned against a stone pillar with a depressed look on his face. Saying it could have gone better was an understatement. They had failed miserably. HE had failed miserably. Ren had panicked during the boss fight, something that got players killed.

"… I should report to the commander about the results of the raid." Asuna finally said.

"Let me go!"

Players' heads started to turn to several people trying to hold back one of the members of the raid group.

"Hideki, calm down!" one of the players holding him back said.

"No! How can she just stand there like that?!" Hideki yelled. He finally managed to break free and stormed over to Asuna. "I thought you were supposed to be in charge! You were supposed to lead us to victory! Well look at the fine job you did!"

Asuna didn't know what to say. She lowered her head down. "I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry? You're SORRY?!" Hideki was all but screaming now. "My friend is dead because of you! He's dead and what do you have to show for it? NOTHING! We didn't even beat the boss!"

"Hey lay off." one of the Knights of the Blood Oath said, putting a hand on Hideki's shoulder. "Asuna did the best she could. It's not like any of us expected this to happen."

Hideki swatted the hand away. "It's her job to expect the unexpected stuff to happen! She was the one in command! How could she stand there and let those players die?!"

The group watched as Hideki stormed up to Asuna and glared at her. "You go around acting like some bigshot, and THIS was the best you could do? Looks like we know just how good the legendary Lightning Flash is now."

"That's enough."

Hideki looked over towards Ren leaning against the pillar. He didn't look Hideki in the eyes. He stared at the ground. "It's not Asuna's fault. I'm the reason we lost the raid. I'm the reason those players died."

Hideki clenched his fists as he went over to Ren and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, forcing the tactician to look at him. "You sure seem pretty damn nonchalant about it all! Do you even care about the players that died in that raid?! Do you?!" Ren made no response. There was no argument for him to put up in his defense. "Didn't you say that this fight would be fine as long as we 'analyzed the situation'? Well look at where that got us!"

"Hey, let him go!" Helios growled as he walked up to Hideki.

Hideki ignored Helios's comment and slammed Ren against the pillar behind him. "You call yourself a tactician?! You went and panicked out there, don't think we didn't see you! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"I said let him go!" Helios yelled, grabbing Hideki and pulling him away from Ren. "Ren did everything he could! None of us were able to do a damn thing, so stop putting all the blame on him!"

"That's enough Helios."

Helios looked over at Ren, seeing the depressed expression on his face. "He's right. I'm responsible for what happened today."

The players watched as Ren walked away from the scene. He walked up to the teleport gate and teleported back to Floor 43 where he lived.

Hideki huffed as he watched Ren leave. "See, he doesn't even have the guts to stick around. He's nothing but a cowardly little-"

"Shut up!"

Hideki was caught off guard as Alice took a swing at him, sending him flying back and tumbling across the ground. Tears of rage were welled up in her eyes. "Don't you say another thing about Ren! It's not like he wanted this to happen!"

"Tch, you're only defending him cause he's your stinking boyfriend. You guys didn't lose any members in that raid, but what about us?! You got any idea what we feel like right now?!"

Murmurs of agreement began to spread across the crowd. Alice clenched her fists in frustration. Deciding to stop tensions from getting any higher, Asuna stepped in. "We've all had a long day. I'll go report to the commander. For now, everyone is dismissed."

With Asuna's command, the group gradually began to disperse. Hideki scoffed and turned around to walk away. "If that damn tactician wants to make up for his mistakes, he should go die and apologize to the players he killed."

Before Alice could rush Hideki and make him regret his last statement, Riku grabbed her arm to signal for her to stop. He shook his head at Alice. "We shouldn't make a bigger scene here. Right now, we should make sure Ren is ok."

After taking a couple seconds to calm down, Alice nodded her head. She took off towards the teleport gate and teleported herself to Floor 43.

* * *

Ren walked into his player home and closed the door behind him. The guilt from his failure in the boss raid still weighed heavily on him. Several players had died in that raid because he had panicked. To make matters worse, they didn't have anything to show for it. They ended up retreating with their tails between their legs.

As he walked into his room, Ren curled up his hand into a fist and slammed it against the wall. _'Damnit all! What the hell happened to me back there?!'_

For so long, the assault team had been defeating boss after boss without taking any casualties. The fights had in no ways been easy, but they always managed to deal with them. Over time, Ren had slowly begun to forget just how dangerous boss raids could be.

He had gotten cocky. And those players lost their lives as a result.

Ren walked over to his bed and dropped onto it. He was too tired to do anything. He simply wanted to lie down and stay there. After a few minutes, he heard a knock at the door.

"Ren? Are you alright?"

It was quiet, but Ren was able to recognize the voice as Alice's. He contemplated whether he should get up or not. He didn't want Alice to see him in the sorry state he was in.

Alice stood outside as she knocked on Ren's door again. "Ren, please open the door. I'm worried about you. We all are."

"… It's unlocked." Ren finally said.

Alice turned the knob and walked into Ren's house, closing the door behind her. She took a few steps in, not seeing Ren anywhere. She came to the bedroom and saw the door open slightly. Peeking her head in, she saw Ren lying on his bed. All of the life seemed to be drained from his body.

 _'He's even worse than I thought'_ Alice thought to herself. _'I need to think of something to say to him'_

Alice walked up and sat on the edge of the bed. She gently rubbed the palm of her hand on Ren's back in a circular motion. "Ren, what happened today wasn't your fault."

"Yes it is." Ren said in a hollow voice. "I… I was so useless! I wasn't able to do anything!"

Alice forced Ren to sit up and look at her. "Ren, you can't always be able to formulate a strategy that saves everyone. No one is that perfect, no matter how much we want to be."

"It's more than that." Ren told her. "I let my ego get to me. I thought we'd be able to handle this boss no problem. Worst of all… I forgot my responsibility as a tactician. I was so focused with defeating the boss, that I forgot my top priority of keeping everyone alive."

"Ren…"

Ren stared down at the floor. "My mistake got players killed, and Mai almost joined them. And when I saw the boss attack you… I was so afraid I was going to lose you too." He clenched his fists, shaking with rage at himself. "If any of you died… I'd never be able to forgive myself."

Alice grabbed Ren by his face and forced him to look her in the eyes. "I'm not going to die, you got that? I'm going to stay with you until the end."

"But what if-"

"No buts." Alice told him as she pulled Ren in close and embraced him with a warm hug. His body rested against hers as she gently rubbed his back. "Ren, you may be the top tactician in Aincrad, but you're still human. You're allowed to make a mistake every now and then. The important thing is that you pick yourself back up."

Ren pulled away and stared at Alice. "How can you have so much confidence in me? After what happened today."

"Because you're my hero." Alice told him with a comforting smile. "Ren, you saved my life. You've saved the lives of more players than I can count. You can't give up just because of one mess-up. And it's not just me. Mai, Helios, Riku, Dagger, we all believe in you."

For the first time since the boss raid, a small smile formed on Ren's face. Hearing Alice's words of encouragement brought some life back into him. His friends believed in him, and that was something that meant more to him than anything. Alice smiled back at him, happy to see the old Ren back.

"Thanks for the pep talk Alice. I needed that." Ren said.

"Anything for you." Alice replied. She pulled him back down onto the bed. "Why don't you rest for now? We've all had a long day."

Ren nodded his head. "Yeah, I think I will." He watched as Alice got up and walked out of the room as he laid on his bed. "Hey… Alice?"

Alice turned her head around to face him. "What is it?"

"Well… could you stay here with me for a bit?"

Alice smiled as she nodded her head. "Of course."

Ren moved over and made room for Alice as she laid down next to him on the bed. They wrapped their arms around each other as they both closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 _-The next day-_

The square of Floor 67 was crowded with members of the assault team. Heathcliff was present this time, with Asuna standing at his side. Everyone was meeting together about what to do for the boss raid.

The air was quiet. Tension was still high from the events of yesterday. Everyone noticed that Ren was missing from the group. Needless to say, morale was not at its peak.

"I really wish we had Ren here." Asuna muttered from Heathcliff's side. "I know he's still probably gloomy from yesterday, but we could really use his input for our strategy."

"It can't be helped." Heathcliff said. Frankly, he was a little disappointed in the events of yesterday. He knew that the boss was tricky and powerful, he had designed it with that in mind. But still, he had hoped for a slightly better result from the assault team.

Hideki still seemed grumpy and took notice of the fact that Ren was missing. "Can't say I'm surprised that worthless tactician isn't here."

Asami, one of the other tacticians of the front lines alongside Ren, glared at him. "Watch what you say about Ren! He's the best mind the front lines have for boss raids!"

"And look at where that got us." Hideki shot back. "We've got four dead players and he's MIA. Yeah, some brilliant mind he is."

Asami marched up and grabbed Hideki by the throat. "Say that again, I dare you."

Soon arguing began to spread amongst the group of players. Heathcliff watched over this and sighed. "It seems getting morale back to normal is going to be harder than we thought."

Asuna nodded her head in agreement. Suddenly a flash of light came from the teleport altar, causing everyone to look at who the new arrivals were. Several players gasped as they saw the six members of Wyvern's Inferno standing on top of the altar.

Whispers spread throughout the players as Wyvern's Inferno calmly walked up to the group. As they made their way through the crowd, Hideki walked up and blocked Ren's path. "You've got some nerve showing your face here."

Before Helios could walk up and make Hideki regret that comment, Ren stopped his guildmate with his arm. He looked Hideki in the eyes before bowing his head.

"You have my sincerest apologies for your dead friend." Ren told him. "If you still can't forgive me, then you can take as much of your rage out on me as you want, be it verbal or physical." As Hideki was about to take Ren up on his offer and swing a punch at the tactician, Ren caught the fist with his hand. "AFTER we beat this boss."

The entire crowd stayed silent, including Hideki as Ren and his guild walked up to Heathcliff at the head of the gathered players.

"Good to see you, Ren." Heathcliff said with a grin. "I trust you have something to say."

"I do." Ren nodded. He turned around to face the group. "Players of the assault team, I take full responsibility for our failed raid yesterday. I know a lot of you don't have full confidence in me right now, and to be honest I can't blame you. But we need to beat this boss so we can escape this accursed death game." He clenched his fist in front of him. "If I could win this alone and keep everyone else safe, I would take that risk in a heartbeat. But I'm weak. I'm not strong enough. So I ask of you all. Please lend me your strength!"

Silence overtook the crowd as Ren's words hung in the air. At first nobody made a move or a sound. Then one player stepped forward. "I'm in." The players all looked at the player who had stepped up in mild surprise. "I believe in Ren. He may have failed once, but he's helped us through more boss raids than I can remember. I trust him."

Another player soon spoke up as well. "Count me in too. Let's kick that boss's ass and avenge our dead comrades!"

Gradually more and more players began to speak up, offering their support.

"Me too!"

"Let's do this!"

"This boss is toast!"

Ren watched in awe as more and more players cheered in agreement to join the raid. It was far more than he could have ever hoped for. "Everyone…"

"Of course we're in too." Alice said with a smile as she and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno nodded. "Someone has to make sure you don't go doing anything stupid during the raid."

Asuna walked up next to Ren and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Glad to have you back Ren. Now how about we go and kick this boss's ass?"

Ren nodded his head with a sincere smile on his face. "Yeah. Let's do it."

* * *

The boss raid had been going on for nearly twenty minutes. In that time, the assault team had managed to take down the boss's first health bar and they were nearing the halfway point of the second. They had managed to avoid any casualties so far this time and Ren was praying they'd be able to keep it that way.

"Kirito, parry the attack when it swings its sword down! Asuna, use that opening to hit the boss with everything you've got!" Ren ordered.

Kirito followed Ren's instructions and swung his Elucidator up as the boss swung it sword down. The clash, knocked the boss off balance slightly as Asuna sped past Kirito with her rapier veiled in light. She leaped at the boss's face and delivered a series of thrusts with her blade, knocking down the boss's HP even further. Ren saw the second health bar go past the halfway point.

"That's enough! Everyone distance yourselves from the boss!" Ren shouted.

Upon hearing Ren's orders, everyone began to fall back to the outer edges of the boss room. Kirito carried Asuna over to safety while she was stuck in the stun delay. The Vice Commander blushed slightly as Kirito put her down.

"You couldn't have done that any other way?" Asuna asked.

"How about thanking me for getting you away from the boss instead of nagging me?" Kirito replied.

Ren's retreat order was perfectly timed as everyone covered their ears from the high pitched wailing of the Dark Prankster. It charged at the players with its two swords gripped tightly in its hands.

"Tanks, formation D!" Ren quickly ordered.

The tank players of the raid group followed Ren's instructions as they positioned themselves up front, blocking the boss's path from the rest of the raid group. All at once, the tanks took a defensive stance against the boss's charge. The boss swung its two swords down, but the tanks managed to hold it back with their numbers.

 _'Here it comes.'_ Ren thought to himself.

The Dark Prankster screeched as it went into its next form and stood on two feet. Two battle axes were gripped tightly in its other two hands just like before.

Ren took a deep breath. This would be the defining few moments. _'Don't panic. Stay calm and analyze how the boss fights.'_

"Focus on dodging for now!" Ren ordered. "Try to get a feel of the boss's attacks!"

The assault team let out a war cry as they all charged at the boss so its agro wouldn't be on one single person. They slowly damaged the boss bit by bit while doing their best to evade the attacks that came their way.

As time went on, Ren slowly began to get a clear image of the attack patterns for the boss's new form. He unsheathed Inferno Blazer from his back and prepared to get in on the action himself. He sped towards the boss at full speed. Using the speed from Crimson Flash, he ran past the boss while delivering two clean slashes to its right leg. The boss turned around to face him. Its sadistic grin still hadn't left its face.

 _'You won't be grinning when this is over you bastard.'_ Ren silently thought as he got ready to face the boss.

The Dark Prankster swung its weapons at Ren one after another, but the tactician had seen enough of the boss's attacks to know how to dodge them. He even managed to deliver small cuts to the boss's arms as they swung past him.

"Now guys!" Ren shouted. "Hit him hard!"

A roar came from behind the boss as everyone charged and dealt as much damage as they could. The combined attacks brought the boss's HP down even further. There was only about two thirds left of its last health bar. Getting desperate, the boss roared as it swung it curled its body around and Ren knew what that meant.

"It's AoE attack is coming! Party B, fall back and prepare to support! Everyone else, formation C!"

Everyone did as instructed. The tanks moved up in front of the others while the rest of the raid group all stabbed their weapons into the ground. The boss spun its body around violently, threatening to blow everyone away. But with their weapons anchoring them down, the players had managed to avoid that.

"Party A, get agro! Everyone else, fall back and regroup!"

The majority of the raid group retreated to the outer area of the boss room and got out health potions, guzzling them down to restore their HP.

Ren ran over to the others and met up with Asuna. The Vice Commander looked at him with a smile on her face. "Alright, we're doing good so far. We just need to finish off the rest of its HP."

Ren nodded his head in agreement. Suddenly a loud cry came from the boss, causing everyone to look towards it. The Dark Prankster became coated in a blood red aura as its face turned from a sadistic smile to pure rage. Its size began to increase too, with its head almost reaching the height of the ceiling.

"Give us a break already!" Alice cried out.

"Party A, get back!" Ren shouted. "Whatever the boss is doing, it isn't good!"

The players in Party A didn't need to be told twice as they quickly fell back. Looking over at the boss, it was clear it had powered up based on the aura surrounding it. One false move now could prove fatal.

Usually Ren would have suggested aiming at the boss's weak point, its face. But right now it was too high up for any of them to reach. Right now, the boss was even larger than the Gigas Titan from Floor 50.

 _'If we take it head on, we'll be blown away. But if we just stand here, we won't do anything.'_ Ren thought. _'Come on. Think!'_ Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He stared at the boss, formulating the chances of succeeding. They were slim, but their chances of winning if they stood there and did nothing were even slimmer.

"I've got an idea." Ren said. "But it's going to be risky as hell."

"How risky?" Kirito asked.

"There's at least a ninety percent chance of us failing and dying."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to make sure we succeed." Helios said with a grin as he stood next to his guild leader. "You wouldn't have brought it up if you had any other ideas, so we'll just have to go for it."

"We believe in you Ren." Alice said as she stood at his side as well. "If you say this is our best shot at winning, then we'll do it."

Ren nodded his head. "Alright then! Everyone who's feeling lucky, follow me!"

The team of Wyvern's Inferno, followed by Kirito, Asuna, Heathcliff, and a few other members charged at the boss as they let out a war cry. The boss noticed them and prepared to attack.

"Everyone dodge!" Ren shouted. The group all jumped out of the way as the boss swung its two swords at them. Up next was its axes and the boss already had them reeled back. Once again, the group moved out of the way of the attack.

Ren looked over to Helios. "Get in front of me and kneel down!"

Instantly reading what Ren had in mind, Helios obeyed and moved in front of his friend. He got down on one knee as Ren ran towards him. When he felt Ren's foot on his shoulder, he sprang his body up, giving Ren the extra momentum he needed to reach the height he was going for. The tactician landed on one of the now massive arms of the boss.

"When I give the signal, everyone attack its heels!" Ren yelled as he ran along the boss's arm.

Klein stared blankly at Ren as the tactician ran along the boss's arm. "What the hell is he doing?"

"Something reckless and stupid." Kirito said with a grin.

"Same old Ren." Alice sighed, though she wasn't able to hide the small smile on her face.

Ren did everything he could to keep his balance as he ran along the boss's arm. If he fell, the plan would be ruined and he would almost certainly die. The Dark Prankster stared at Ren as it moved one of its other arms to swat him off. Ren simply jumped onto the other arm and continued to run. He was getting closer and closer to the boss's face.

"Now!" Ren yelled.

Alice and the others knew that was the signal. They all charged at the boss while it was distracted and slashed at its heels. The boss stumbled a bit as Ren closed in to the boss's face. Inferno Blazer became veiled in a crimson red glow.

"This is for all the players that died by your hand!" Ren shouted as he leaped off the arm and lunged towards the boss's face. He attacked with the Crimson Flash sword skill, creating a X mark on the boss's face before delivering one final slash to finish the skill off.

A loud roar came from the boss as it fell over due to the attack combined with the damage to its rear heels. It crashed onto the floor with a loud thud that shook the entire room. The boss's health was dangerously low.

In the air, Ren dived down towards the boss. The second he felt his body regain the ability to move, he got into the stance for one final skill. Ren thrusted his blade forward as it became veiled in light.

"RAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ren roared as he dived down and stabbed the boss's face with his sword. The attack dealt with the rest of the boss's HP as it let out a cry of pain before shattering into fragments. Ren fell from where he was and crashed into the ground.

Alice and the rest of her guild ran over to their leader. "Ren! Ren, are you alright?!"

"Yeah." Ren said as he laid on the ground. "Just tired."

Alice let out a sigh of relief and helped him sit up. A loud cheer came from the raid group that they had finally defeated the boss. Everyone took a moment to rest and recover from the tiring battle.

Heathcliff walked over to Ren. "Good job today. You helped us pull through to victory."

"Thanks." Ren said with an appreciative smile.

Alice smiled as she rested her head against Ren. "See? I knew you could do it."

"Not gonna scold me for being a reckless idiot?" Ren asked.

"That'll come tomorrow." Alice said with a joking grin. "I'm too tired right now."

Ren nodded as he let his body relax next to Alice. It had been a long fight, but they were finally one step closer to freedom. Just maybe, they actually had a shot of beating this game.

 **A/N: Phew, that took forever to write out. Hope you all enjoyed the fight, as well as the OST I chose for it. I'll do what I can to get this story updated within a month or so for the next chapter. See you then everyone!**


	23. Blue Eyed Deamon

**A/N: Hello everybody. Time for a new chapter! I was hoping to get this out earlier, but other fics and a bit of writer's block decided to get in my way.**

 **Also, time to respond to the two guest reviews I got from last chapter. For the one asking what Inferno Blazer looks like, I unfortunately wasn't able to get the picture of Ren to show a full display of his treasured sword. It is basically a one-handed sword with a black hilt and a redish orange blade that looks like the color of fire, hence the name. As for the reviewer asking if Wyvern's Inferno will get any new members, they will not be getting anyone new during SAO.**

"This is so stupid."

"Come on Helios, it isn't that bad."

"Really?! Cause between this and Sheeptar, I am really starting to question Kayaba's creativity skills."

Wyvern's Inferno walked through the dungeon on Floor 74. It was by far one of the weirdest dungeons they had explored so far. The entire place looked like an odd abstract painting. The paths zigged and zagged all around, but thankfully they didn't split up that often.

Most of the enemies in the dungeon were Lizardmen and a few skeleton knights. The guild had little trouble dealing with them, but how often the mobs spawned was beginning to take a toll on them.

"How much longer till the safe zone?" Mai complained.

"I doubt it's much farther. We've been walking around for nearly two hours." Ren said.

As the guild continued to walk, they suddenly saw several monsters spawn around them. Before they knew it, the guild was surrounded by Lizardmen. They all stood with their backs to each other as they looked at the enemies surrounding them.

"Hit 'em till they die?" Helios asked.

"Hit 'em till they die." Ren nodded.

The guild all sped towards their enemies. Ren charged at three Lizardmen, parrying their attacks with his sword. He then switched with Alice, who performed a wide slash with her scythe that ripped the reptiles in half. They let out a cry of pain before they shattered into fragments.

The monsters Helios charged didn't have a chance to attack as he leaped into the air and smashed his axe into the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked them off balance. While they were stunned, Dagger sped in and ripped through them with her shortsword.

Mai backflipped away as a Lizardman attempted to cut her down. She then charged in with the sword skill Flashing Penetrator, which took out the rest of the monster's health. The Lizardmen planning to attack her from behind were suddenly paralyzed as they felt throwing knives become embedded in their backs. They fell over while Riku twirled his dagger in his hand with a smirk.

It didn't take long for Ren and the others to take out what remained of the mob of monsters. But fatigue was slowly beginning to take its toll on them. After quickly checking their drops that they had gotten from the monsters, the guild moved on. With any luck, there would be a safe zone nearby.

"These dungeons are getting a lot harder." Alice groaned as they walked. "And the monster algorithms have been more complex than ever. It's almost like they're intelligent."

"Tell me about it." Dagger said in agreement. "I say we go home early today."

"So you can scam more players?" Mai guessed.

"Yup!"

The guild let out a collective sigh. Dagger had gotten a lot stronger and had more or less caught up to them in level, but her love for scamming players over field clearing did get annoying sometimes.

After a few more minutes of walking, Mai took notice of something in the distance. Her face brightened and she smiled at the sight. "Look! It's the safe zone! Finally!"

The young brunette took off running towards the safe zone. Once she was inside, Mai let her body collapse onto the ground. She caught her breath as she slowly recovered from her exhaustion.

"Mai? Is that you?"

Mai sat up and looked over towards where she had heard the voice just now as Ren and the others finally entered into the safe zone. Further in, they could see Klein and his guild. The Furinkazan guild waved over to Wyvern's Inferno.

"Yo, how's it going Pery Samurai?" Helios said with a wave.

"P-Pery Samurai?!" Klein exclaimed. "What kind of nickname is that?!"

"Well it suits you pretty well." a voice said from behind Klein.

Ren recognized the voice, and narrowed his eyes in mild surprise. "Kirito? Is that you?"

The Furinkazan guild made way for Ren and the others to see. Kirito was sitting against a wall and gave a casual gave to the group. The real surprise was the person sitting next to him.

"Asuna?!"

"Yeah, we were surprised too." Klein said. "Looks like the legendary Black Swordsman and Lightning Flash have partied up together."

"Oh, now this I gotta hear." Alice grinned as she walked over.

Asuna tried to hide the blush on her face with a shrug. "What? Can't two friends party together every now and them?"

"Friends? Weren't you threatening to shove your rapier up his ass like a month ago?" Riku asked.

Kirito groaned as he remembered that argument. "Thanks a lot Riku. Just managed to get that mental image out of my head a few days ago."

The group all shared a laugh at Kirito's expense. As they laughed, Ren suddenly heard footsteps coming their way. Everyone looked towards the entrance of the safe zone and saw a large group of players coming in. They were all dressed in heavy armor that covered most of their bodies, though it didn't seem to be as high grade as most of the front line players.

"Isn't that the Aincrad Liberation Army?" Mai asked.

"Yeah." Klein nodded. "But what are they doing all the way up on the front lines?"

"No clue. I haven't seen them on the higher floors since the huge loss they suffered on Floor 25." Asuna noted.

The party of Army members seemed exhausted, even more so than the group front line players. They all collapsed onto the ground while one of them walked up to Ren and the others.

"Greetings. I'm Lt. Corvatz of the Aincrad Liberation Army."

"Skip the formalities and get to your point." Ren said coldly. He wasn't a big fan of the guild and them being all the way up here was extremely suspicious in his eyes.

Corvatz shot a glare at Ren, but didn't go any further than that. "Do you have any data on the area up ahead?"

"We've got a map leading up to the boss room." Kirito responded.

"Good." the Army member said. "Now if you'd be so kind as to hand it over, we'll be on our way."

Corvatz's demand shocked the group. Klein stepped forward. "Hey pal, do you have any idea what a pain in the ass mapping is? And you want us to just give it to you for free?!"

"We share our information and resources with players all the time, and we don't charge a thing for it!" Corvatz yelled.

Ren rolled his eyes. That was a load of bull. Rumors of the Army charging taxes on players living in the Town of Beginnings had already made their way to the front lines. It had been a long time since any of them had been back at the town, but it was clear that the Aincrad Liberation Army was running everything down there like a dictatorship.

"Who do you think you are?!" Asuna yelled. Both she and Corvatz grabbed the hilts of their weapons, about to draw them, until Kirito stepped forward.

"Wait guys." he said. "It's fine. I was gonna go public with the map data back in town anyway."

Dagger gasped at Kirito. "Hold on. You're just giving it to him like that?!"

"I don't really care about making money off of map data." Kirito shrugged as he opened his window and transferred the map data over to Corvatz.

"Thanks for the cooperation." Corvatz said as he closed his menu and walked back over to his men.

"By the way, I wouldn't recommend challenging the boss if I were you." Kirito added.

"That's my decision to make." Corvatz said simply.

Kirito could see just what Corvatz was planning and it wasn't going to end well. "I just took a look at the boss earlier. Trust me, you can't beat it, especially with your troops being half dead!"

"My men are tougher than you think, boy!" Corvatz snapped. He addressed his troops. "On your feet men! We're moving out!"

The group watched as the Army players sluggishly got to their feet and followed Corvatz's lead, going deeper into the dungeon. It was easy to see that if they fought the boss in their condition, it would be a wipe out.

"The nerve of that guy!" Dagger exclaimed with a pout once Corvatz was out of earshot. "If I were you Kirito, I would have charged him at least 30,000 col for being such an ass!"

"Corvatz's negotiation skills aside, do you think they'll be alright?" Klein asked.

"I doubt they'd rush in without checking out the boss first… right?" Asuna questioned.

Ren and the others looked at each other, wondering what to do. Finally Ren sighed in defeat. "Guess we better go just to make sure they don't do something stupid."

"Geez, what a pain in the ass." Helios groaned. "If this turns out like Floor 25, they'll be screwed without any help."

The group all nodded in agreement with what they had to do. Corvatz was a braindead idiot if he decided to charge the boss with how tired his men were, but letting them get slaughtered wouldn't be right. They left the safe zone and made their way to the boss room.

As they walked, Ren went over to Kirito. "You said you and Asuna already took a look at the boss right? What was it like?"

Kirito shuddered slightly as he remembered the fear the boss struck in his heart. "It was a large two-legged demonic goat. The weapon it had was a big ass buster sword, but I'm betting it has breath attacks too."

"Any info on attack patterns?"

Kirito shook his head. "Nope. As soon as we saw it, Asuna and I hightailed it outta there."

"That strong huh?"

"Yeah." Kirito nodded. "It's definitely gonna be tough to beat."

Ren was already racking his brain for a way to beat the boss. Even with the little information he had to go on, he was already preparing countermeasures for the raid. He knew that it would take a lot more than strategy to win this fight though if Kirito's description of the boss was anything to go on.

* * *

Alice swung her scythe up and knocked away the weapon of the Lizardman. "Asuna! Switch!"

Asuna sped past Alice and thrusted her rapier forward, taking out what was left of the monster's HP. With their part of the mob defeated, the two girls gave each other a high five.

"You really are amazing with that scythe of yours Alice." Asuna grinned.

"Thanks. But I've been wondering something." A smirk became painted on Alice's face as she leaned in closer to Asuna. "Just why are you and Kirito partying together?" Asuna's cheeks blushed slightly at the question, making Alice's grin even bigger. "Oh, could it be that you like him?"

"A-Alice?! What makes you think that?!" Asuna exclaimed.

Alice giggled at how flustered her friend was. "Yep, you totally like him." She looked over at Kirito as he fought alongside Ren. "He really is amazing though. Being able to fight solo on the front lines is no easy task."

Asuna smiled as she stared at Kirito. "Yeah. He is amazing."

Kirito swung his Elucidator upwards, leaving the monster in front of him wide open. "Now Ren! Finish it!"

"With pleasure." Ren grinned as he moved in and attacked with a sword skill. Inferno Blazer was cloaked in light as he slashed away the remaining HP of the monster. It let out a cry of pain and shattered into fragments. Taking a look around, he didn't see any more monsters lurking around. "Looks like this mob's cleared."

"We're all good over here too." Klein said, waving to the others. "Only thing left is the boss room. Haven't seen those Army guys anywhere."

"Maybe they realized they couldn't beat the boss and teleported back to town." Mai suggested.

An ear piercing shriek soon proved Mai wrong however. Everyone turned their heads towards the direction it had come from, the boss room.

"So much for that." Riku sighed as they all took off running towards the boss room.

With their high stats, Kirito and Asuna zoomed on ahead of the others. The only one able to keep up with them was Ren. The screams of terror got louder and louder as they got closer to the boss room.

Asuna cursed under her breath. "Those damn idiots."

As Ren, Kirito, and Asuna came up to the doors of the boss room, they all gasped at what was going on inside. Ren could see just by looking at the boss why Kirito and Asuna had ran when they first saw it. Up above it's head was the boss's name, The Gleam Eyes. The Army's troops were devastated and clearly outmatched. Most of their health was in the red or very close to it, while The Gleam Eyes still seemed to have a full bar of health left. Ren couldn't tell if them challenging this was more courageous or stupid, but what mattered now was getting them out of there.

"Grab your teleport crystals and get out of there! Hurry!" Ren yelled.

"We can't!" one of the Army members called back. "The crystals aren't working!"

Kirito gasped. "And anti-crystal area!"

"But we've never encountered something like that in a boss room up until now." Asuna said.

"The Aincrad Liberation Army never retreats!" Corvarz yelled. "Go men! Keep fighting!"

"You idiot!" Ren yelled. "You'll get everyone killed!"

Corvatz and his men ignored them and charged at the boss. They realized their mistake too late though, as the boss, easily swatted them away like flies with its massive sword. Ren saw one of the players shatter into fragments, making him grind his teeth in frustration.

"Guys! What's going on?!" a sudden voice called out from behind them. Ren turned his head to see his guild, as well as Klein's guild run over to them. When they reached the doorway, they all gasped at the slaughter going on inside the boss room.

As the group watched, Gleam Eyes swung his sword once again, this time sending Corvatz flying over to the doorway. The helmet he was wearing shattered and his HP was falling fast. It hit zero before anyone could heal him with a crystal.

"I… I can't believe it." Corvatz muttered before shattering into polygons. The group all gasped in horror as the pieces that were once Corvatz fell onto the floor and disappeared.

"No…" Asuna whispered as tears formed in her eyes. Another scream brought her attention back inside the boss room as The Gleam Eyes stared down another player. It raised its sword, preparing to finish him off. "No… no…" She grabbed the hilt of her rapier and charged in before she could even think about what she was doing. "NO!"

"Asuna!" Kirito exclaimed as he ran in after her.

Ren and the others stared in shock as Kirito and Asuna ran in. Alice looked towards Ren. "What do we do?"

A sigh escaped Ren's mouth, knowing they were going to have to risk their lives to save the Army from dying. Again. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Let's go guys!"

"Right!" the guild shouted in unison.

Wyvern's Inferno and Furinkazan charged into the boss room. The Gleam Eyes countered Asuna's first assault, but Kirito stopped the boss before it could follow up. He began taking the boss on solo.

Ren looked towards his guild, as well as Klein's group. "Get those Army guys to safety! I'll back up Kirito!"

The group nodded in agreement and split up. Ren sped towards the boss with his sword unsheathed. As Kirito parried another attack from Gleam Eyes, Ren charged in and attacked the boss, taking away some of its HP. Asuna joined in as well as she delivered several quick stabs with her rapier. The Gleam Eyes recovered from the repeated attacks and swung its sword down at them, which Kirito, ren, and Asuna all jumped back to avoid.

"Any ideas on how we beat this thing, Ren?" Asuna asked.

"Not with this few people." Ren replied. He saw the boss inhale and prepare to attack them again. "Move!"

The trio leaped out of the way as a breath attack came their way. Ren stared at the boss, wondering just how long the three of them could keep it occupied.

Out of nowhere, Kirito spoke up. "I have an idea." Ren and Asuna turned their heads to him. "I need ten seconds. Think you can keep him off me until then?"

"Consider it done." Ren replied with a thumbs up. He and Asuna sped at the boss with all the speed they could muster. They dodged the boss's sword as he swung it down at them, and slashed at his legs. Ren thought they were safe for the moment, but he gasped when he saw the boss swing its snake-like tail at him. The blow sent him flying back.

"Ren!" Asuna exclaimed. She felt the boss begin to move again and quickly leaped away from it before it could stomp her.

As Ren flew through the air, his eyes widened as he saw the boss fire a breath attack at him. He was helpless midair and could only bring his arms up to absorb a tiny amount of the blow. He cried out in pain as even more of his HP fell. When he finally fell towards the ground, he didn't hit the cold hard floor, but instead fell into someone else's arms. Alice's arms.

"Are you alright, Ren?" Alice asked as she put him down.

"Yeah. Thanks Alice." Ren said as he stared at the boss. He had taken some damage, but it seemed he had been able to distract the boss for long enough because Kirito was charging at him. Ren prayed that Kirito knew what he was doing as he watched him get closer and closer to Gleam Eyes.

Kirito roared as his Elucidator skidded across the blade of Gleam Eyes. As he did, an emerald light shined from his back. As the light manifested into a solid object, Kirito grabbed what seemed to be a sword from his back and attacked Gleam Eyes.

Ren and the others stared at what just occurred in awe. Kirito was wielding two swords, something completely unheard of in all of Aincrad. He used his two swords to push back Gleam Eyes. Alice looked at Ren. "What's going on? How is he doing that?"

It was rare that Ren was left speechless. But this was one of those times. He had no idea what was going on. He had thought it to be impossible to wield two weapons at the same time. But here Kirito was, doing just that.

"Starburst Stream!" Kirito yelled. Both of his swords became veiled in light as he delivered a relentless assault to Gleam Eyes. The boss's health dropped drastically. Kirito put all of his energy into the last strike of his sword skill and stabbed his sword into Gleam Eyes, making the giant monster shatter away into fragments.

Silence. That was what followed as the 'Congratulations' sign appeared in the air. No one could believe what they had just witnessed. Their attention was brought back to reality as they saw Kirito fall back and onto the ground.

"Kirito!" Asuna exclaimed as she took off running towards him.

"Use a healing crystal!" Ren shouted as he and everyone else ran over to their friend as well.

Asuna didn't need to be told twice as she quickly grabbed a red crystal from her pocket and shattered it in front of Kirito. His HP rose back up to a safe amount, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. They gathered around Kirito as Asuna kneeled next to him. Finally, the raven haired swordsman blinked his eyes open and sat up. "Ugh… How long was I out?"

"You reckless idiot!" Asuna cried out as she hugged him in a tight embrace. "I… I was so worried!"

After letting Asuna cry herself out a bit, Klein delivered the news that no one wanted to hear. "Corvatz and two of his men were the only ones that didn't make it."

Mai grimaced as her face turned to a frown. "And we were doing so well too. Not a single death in a floor boss raid since Floor 67."

"How can you even call that a boss fight?" Ren asked. "That was suicide, no way around it." He gave a stern look at the surviving Army members. "What's the point of acting like a bunch of heroes if you go and get yourselves killed?!"

The Army members had nothing to say in their defense. They knew that they were just lucky and grateful that they had managed to survive the battle at all.

Klein stepped forward and looked at Kirito. "You're not off the hook either buddy. What the hell was that stunt you pulled?"

Kirito looked at the group, everyone eager to hear the details. "Do I really have to tell you guys?"

"Of course! We've never seen anything like it!" Ren exclaimed. "What did you do?!"

"... Dual Wielding." Kirito answered.

"Dual Wielding?" Mai questioned.

Kirito nodded his head in confirmation. "It's a unique skill I picked up about six months ago. I opened my skill menu and it was just there."

Everyone's mouths were open wide, surprised about the newly discovered unique skill. Dagger however had a big grin on her face at the mention of the news. "A unique skill. I can just imagine the money people will pay to hear that info."

"Dagger, please don't tell anyone about this." Kirito begged. "The last thing I need is players mobbing me about this."

"Too bad!" Dagger smirked as she brought out a teleport crystal. "Teleport! Algade!"

A flash of light enveloped Dagger as the redhead disappeared from the boss room. A cold sweat went down Kirito's back as he realized what was in store for him once Dagger found her first few customers.

Ren groaned and let out a sigh. "I'm really sorry about her. Dagger's bad at controlling herself when it comes to money."

"I've noticed…"

* * *

It didn't take even 24 hours for the info of the Dual Wielding skill that Kirito possessed to spread like wildfire. Dagger had made a fortune selling the info of its existence to several players. Mobs of players swarmed around the Black Swordsman. Some wanted to know the details of the skill. Others cursed him out and demanded that he state how to obtain the skill, though he had told them that he simply didn't know.

Ren walked alongside Dagger, with the guild leader frowning at the merchant. "How could you just sell out Kirito like that to make a quick col."

"Excuse me. I made a few quick thousand col by selling that information." Dagger explained with a smirk.

"Dagger, selling out your friends like that is wrong!"

"Why?"

"Because it's immoral!" Ren exclaimed.

"Oh right, morals… yeah I don't have those." Dagger grinned.

Ren stared at his guildmate with a deadpanned expression. He groaned, knowing that there was no getting through to this girl. There were times where that money loving personality brought its help to the guild finance-wise.

And then there were times like this, where they just brought a massive headache.

 **A/N: Sorry that this chapter was a rewrite from the original I Will Not Bow. I tried to add some new stuff into it, but I needed this chapter to happen to signal the certain time area of the story. Don't worry though, the next couple of chapters will be all new stuff.**


	24. Revenge of the Goblins

**A/N: I'm back everyone. Time for a brand new chapter. Enjoy.**

Morning meetings were the worst. Imagine being stuck in a game where you die for real if your HP hits zero. Now imagine being on the front lines where you have to attend meetings fairly often to discuss strategies for clearing said game. Still not too bad, right? Well imagine having an urgent meeting called first thing in the morning. With no caffeine existing in Aincrad.

I think you can imagine now how Ren and the others were feeling at the moment.

He couldn't blame Heathcliff for calling everyone together. It was a week ago that a notification was sent out to every player in SAO. A notification telling them about an event that would soon be occuring called 'Revenge of the Goblins'. Details given out were little and not very informative. It did mention a high spawn rate of goblins down at Floor 53. But other than that, there wasn't much players could tell for sure about the event.

Ren noticed that Kirito and Asuna were both absent from the meeting. He had heard the two of them had requested for some time off from the front lines, which Heathcliff had approved. The two of them had also messaged Ren telling him an even bigger surprise, the two of them had gotten married and had bought a house together on Floor 22. Ren had to read the message several times over just to make sure he was reading it correctly. They had also asked him a favor, and they made it very clear to him in the message.

 _We cannot stress this enough. Do NOT tell Dagger anything about this._

After Dagger's actions when Kirito's Dual Wielding skill was revealed, Ren couldn't really blame them for asking that. He still felt a little guilty about the incident since Dagger was part of his guild. He messaged them back, assuring them that he wouldn't say a word about it to her. The only other people he had told were Alice, Mai, and Riku, and he was fairly certain they could keep it a secret from the red-haired merchant. Helios probably would have blabbed about it by now just to piss off the newly married couple if they had told him.

Heathcliff stood up from his chair, bringing Ren's attention back to the meeting. "I thank you all for coming here today. As I mentioned in the message I sent out to all of you, we are here to discuss the event that was announced recently." He looked around the room. "Has anyone gotten any useful information about the details of the event? Anything that would help?"

None of the guild leaders poke up. As far as Ren could tell, there were probably two reasons for that. First of all, most guilds would want to keep the information about something like this to themselves. It wasn't a floor boss fight. Events like this were completely optional to participate in. As a result, guilds would want to reap as much of the sweet rewards for themselves and giving out important info could allow big guilds like the Knights of the Blood Oath to take those rewards from right under their nose. Secondly, there honestly wasn't much info known about the event for players to tell in the first place.

He was betting that it was mostly the latter of the two.

Suddenly, one of the players stood up. This was the leader of the Holy Dragon Alliance, Lind. "May I ask something, Heathcliff?"

Heathcliff nodded his head. "By all means. Go right ahead."

"What exactly is the point of this meeting? Even if anyone here has any information about the event, what obligation do they have to share it with you?"

"To prevent needless deaths of course. I believe it would be in everyone's best interest if no players were lost to this event."

"If anyone dies from this even, they only have themselves to blame." Lind argued. "Events like this aren't mandatory for anyone. If they choose to take the risk of going in with too little information, that's their problem."

"Hold on." another player spoke up. "That's easy for you to say. You're one of the largest guilds on the front lines. You probably have tons of info on this event and just don't want others to know about it."

Several players agreed with the statement and began to place their arguments as well. Ren sighed as he and a few other sensible guild leaders watched the meeting slowly escalate into a full blown argument.

* * *

Alice and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno stood outside the Knights of the Blood Oath's headquarters. Several other players were standing around in the streets, waiting for the meeting to end. The big event 'Revenge of the Goblins' was all players could talk about these past few days. Players had gone to check out the fields on Floor 53 and as the notification had said, the spawn rate of goblins was much higher than usual. In fact, it had almost doubled. Another fact that they had noticed was the goblin mobs were much larger in number than usual too.

"Ugh, this is so boring." Helios moaned. "I don't see why we can't just go out there and kick some goblin ass. So what if there's more than usual?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Because _some_ players would like to know as much as possible to avoid getting themselves killed."

"Oh please. What's there to know? There's a lot of goblins out there. Our guild is more than a high enough level to deal with them. It's as simple as that."

"Who cares?" Dagger said. "The way I see it, more goblins, means more drops, and that means more cash."

"Is money all you ever think about?" Mai asked.

"Hey there's nothing wrong with knowing the best ways to make cash." Dagger argued. "Once Ren comes out of that meeting, I say we-"

"Get out of the way! Everyone move!"

Alice and the others looked towards the distance to see a player running towards the guild hall at an alarming speed. Riku squinted his eyes to get a better look at the player. "Isn't that Argo?"

"You're right." Dagger nodded. "But what's she doing here?"

Players quickly moved out of the way as Argo ran past them. She was extremely flustered as she ran. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! This is bad! This is really, really bad!"

Dagger waved over to her friend. "Hey Argo, what's got you so-" She didn't even get to finish as Argo zoomed past her and ran into the Knights of the Blood Oath's guild hall without so much as a hello.

Players stared at the guild building, wondering what had Aincrad's top info broker in such a rush. However the meeting inside was going, it was most likely about to get a lot more eventful.

* * *

The meeting room was a full on war zone of words as players argued amongst each other. Ren watched with morbid curiosity as he began to mentally place bets on which side was going to win this argument.

"We need to spread as much information about the event as possible!"

"Why should we share the rewards for our hard work!"

Heathcliff let out a sigh as he tried to get the meeting back in order. "Everyone, can we please-"

"Out of my way!" a sudden outburst yelled. The doors swung open as Argo burst into the room, silencing everyone there. The info broker panted and caught her breath.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" Heathcliff questioned. "We're in the middle of a meeting."

"She probably just wants info on the event so she can sell it to players in town later." one of the guild leaders said.

Argo shot a glare at the player that had made that last comment as she tapped her claw weapons at her waist threateningly. "Listen pal, I just knocked out three guards to get here. I will gladly do the same to you."

Heathcliff stared at Argo. "Did you just say you knocked out three of our guards?"

"Not important right now!" Argo said. "We've got a huge problem on our hands! And it's related to this new event that was released!"

Argo's words got the attention of all of the players there. Heathcliff nodded at her. "Then by all means. Please tell us."

"I'm sure you've all heard by now that goblin spawn rates have been insane in the fields of Floor 53, correct?" Argo asked. The group of players nodded in response. "Well a lot more has changed than just their numbers. They've begun capturing players."

Gasps of shock filled the room. Ren stared at Argo. "What do you mean by captured?"

"I mean they're grabbing them out in the fields once their health is low enough and dragging them away." Argo explained. "According to my sources, it's already happened to a large number of parties already."

The front line players stared at each other. Due to their high levels, the goblins hadn't proved much of a threat to any of their parties yet. But if mid-level players went up against them, it would be a different story. But there was one thing that troubled the minds of the players there.

"What's happened to the captured players?" Ren asked.

Argo knew where Ren was going with this. "Their not dead, at least most of them aren't. The party members that got away went and checked the Memorial Stone in the Town of Beginnings. The players that got captured are still alive according to that. For now at least."

"For now?"

Argo's face grimaced as she continued. "One of the first players that got captured is apparently dead. They weren't for a couple days after they got captured, but now their name is crossed out on the stone. And we all know what that means."

The players were all silent. This was a big problem. Ren curled his hand into a fist at what this all meant. "There's a time limit between the goblins capturing players. And if we don't make that time limit, more are going to die."

"That's not the worst of it I'm afraid." Argo said. "Remember what the notification said? The event would last for one week. What do you think is going to happen to all of those players when the week ends?"

Death. That was the only logical answer they could come up with. For now, the rate of dead players due to the event would be fairly slow. But once the week ended, all of them would most likely be dead.

"Damn that bastard Kayaba. He's practically forcing us to either participate in his event or let who knows how many players die." one of the players said.

Ren looked towards Heathcliff. "I would like to suggest that we try and discourage mid-level players from going out to Floor 53's fields. In addition, we should send parties out to try and figure out where the captured players are being brought to."

"Agreed." Heathcliff said with a nod. He looked at the leader of the Holy Dragon Alliance. "I believe this is reason enough for us to share all information we have on this event?"

"... Very well." he said. "I suppose we can make an exception, given these circumstances."

The players all sat back down in their chairs. Things had gotten very serious very quickly and if something wasn't done, they'd have a lot of dead players. Something had to be done and fast.

* * *

It took a full hour, but the front lines finally had their plan ready. Several parties had been assigned to Floor 53. Their objective was to either see if it was possible to obtain information about the base of operations for the goblins from the mobs, or locate it themselves. The latter of the two sounded more likely considering that details of the algorithms for the new goblin mobs were still unclear. Meanwhile, the Holy Dragon Alliance and other large guilds would spread the word about the dangers in Floor 53's fields and do everything they could to prevent mid-level players from entering.

Ren's group was one of the parties assigned to the fields of Floor 53. It was a field with several hills and valleys, along with a few mountains that were home to dungeons filled with monsters. Mobs of goblins had attacked the guild every so often, but they weren't anything that front line players couldn't handle.

Alice blocked an incoming goblin with her scythe. The monster's machete hit the handle of Alice's scythe, but it didn't even come close to breaking her defense. She pushed it back and hooked the curved blade of her scythe around its waist. With one yank, the goblin was ripped in half and shattered into fragments. She looked over at her sister Mai and saw her dealing with the two goblins she was fighting fairly well. Her speed and precision with her rapier easily allowed her to take down the monsters.

"I think that's all of them." Ren said, not seeing anymore goblins in the immediate area. "Let's keep moving."

The guild had been moving through the fields on Floor 53 for a few hours so far. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to pin down the location of any hideout where the captured players might be. The goblins were clearly stronger, but they didn't give any hints to being any more intelligent than they had been before.

Wyvern's Inferno continued its scouting mission as they walked down into a canyon area. High rocky walls gave them only one path to go since climbing them would be next to impossible. After walking through the canyon for a bit, Ren and the others decided to take a short break and sat down to rest.

Mai felt her stomach growl as she brought out a loaf of bread she had bought back in town. Alice ate with her sister as the two of them talked. Ren opened his menu and took a look at the map. They had covered a decent amount of the area they were assigned to, and they still hadn't found any clues to the whereabouts of the captured players. Heck, they hadn't even encountered any goblin mobs since they entered the canyon.

' _I sure hope the other parties are having better luck than us.'_ Ren thought to himself.

The sudden sound of a rocking tumbling down from above made the entire guild jump. When they saw it was merely a small pebble that must have simply come loose, they all breathed a sigh of relief. The goblin mobs may have been far lower leveled than the guild, but their numbers meant that it could get dicey if they got caught into an ambush.

Suddenly a thought popped into Ren's mind. _'We haven't seen any goblins since we entered the canyon. But is that really because we're on the wrong track?'_ Once he realized what was going on, he looked up. More and more small pebbles were falling down from above.

Ren jumped to his feet. "Weapons out everyone! We're surrounded!"

The guild quickly did as Ren told them and sprang up to their feet, drawing their weapons. It was then that the goblins all jumped down from above. They cut off both escape routes for the guild and the number of them was far bigger than any mob they had seen yet. Ren estimated there was currently about five mobs worth of goblins surrounding them.

"Clever little rats." Riku growled as he gripped his weapon tightly. "This could be trouble."

"Take out as many as you can guys." Ren ordered. "And don't let your guard down."

The guild gave a collective nod and kicked off the ground. Ren didn't waste any time as he quickly sped and slashed through goblin after goblin while doing his best to avoid their attacks. He ducked under the slash of a machete and stabbed his sword into the goblin that had swung it. As the monster shattered into polygons, he noticed the other goblins jump back. Then he caught something in the corner of his vision. Leaping out of the way just in time, Ren avoided a strike from an arrow. He looked above them and saw goblin archers taking aim at them.

"They've got archers above us!" Ren shouted as he cut through one of the arrows with his sword.

The rest of the guild looked up and took notice of the goblin archers. Attacking became a lot harder as they had to put everything they could into dodging the back and forth assault from the archers above and the regular goblins on the ground.

Helios growled as he jumped into the air and swung his axe down at the ground. "Just piss off already!" The skill he used created a shockwave that made the goblins in front of him lose their balance. "Dagger, now!"

The red-haired merchant didn't need to be told twice as she rushed past her boyfriend and quickly attacked the stunned goblins. After several quick slashes from her blade Rip-off, she switched out with Helios, who finished off what was left of their HP with one swing of his axe. He was the one with the most stamina out of the group, but even he was starting to get worn down by the giant mob. Even more goblins jumped down from above. There was just no end to them.

Dagger took a quick moment to catch her breath before rejoining the fight, but she suddenly found herself entangled by a net that came from above. "Ahh! Get this thing off me!"

Helios turned around and his eyes widened in fear as he saw Dagger caught in the net. "Hang on Dagger! I'm coming!" He quickly rushed to help her, but he soon got caught in a net that came for him. He struggled to break free, but that only served to entangle him even more. "Damnit!"

Ren took notice of his two guild members trapped. Now he knew how the goblins were capturing players and he did not like the look of it. He quickly dodged a net that came for him from above and ran to help his friends. He didn't even think twice about using the Crimson Flash skill as he sped in a straight line towards Dagger. With one swift motion of his blade, he cut the net binding her and then did the same thing as he sped over and freed Helios. The three of them stood with their backs to each other.

"Thanks man. I owe you one." Helios said as he breathed heavily, clearly getting exhausted.

"How much longer do you think you can last?" Ren asked, just as tired as Helios.

"Another few minutes probably."

"Try and buy as much time for yourself as you can. We need to regroup." Ren said.

"Ren! A little help over here!"

Ren looked over and saw Alice struggling with three goblins surrounding her. He quickly sped to her side, taking out two goblins along the way. He saw a net come at her from above and quickly leaped in the air, slashing it with his sword. He stood back to back with Alice as the goblins surrounded them.

"Thanks Ren. That was a close one." Alice said.

"Don't mention it." Ren replied. He quickly looked around them. Helios and Dagger were holding their own for now thanks to Riku who had gone in to assist them. He and Alice were right next to each other.

But where was Mai?

A sudden scream caught the attention of the guild, especially Alice. Over in the distance, Mai was tangled in a net while several goblins surrounded her.

"MAI!" Alice exclaimed. She quickly rushed to her sister's side, but her path was cut off as a rain of arrows came towards her. As she jumped back to avoid them, several goblins jumped down from above, cutting her off from Mai. Alice gripped the handle of her scythe tightly as she glared at the goblins standing in front of her. "Get out of my way!"

The goblins didn't budge and Alice charged at them. She was much stronger than any one of them on their own, but their number was enough to push her back a bit. Alice's determination to help her sister kept her going as she slowly tried to open a path to her Mai. She saw the goblins grab the net she was in and begin to drag her away, causing her eyes to widen in fear. "Give her back!"

Ren silently cursed under his breath as he tried to repel the goblins attacking him. He had to do something to help Mai, but there were too many enemies. "Helios! Dagger! Riku! We need help!"

"Kinda busy here!" Helios yelled back as he swatted away another goblin.

"They got Mai!"

Helios widened his eyes as he heard this. He let out a low growl as he glanced towards Dagger and Riku. "Get going. Help out the squirt."

"But Helios, you can't fight them all on your-"

"Go!"

Dagger and Riku looked at each other and gave a hesitant nod as they ran over to help Alice get to Mai. Helios stood firm as he glared at the goblins standing before him. "Alright you pansies, bring it on!"

Alice slashed through another few goblins, but there were still too many. There weren't any more coming down at the guild from above, but that also meant they were beginning to retreat. With Mai in their clutches. Suddenly, she saw Dagger and Riku run past her and rip through another two goblins.

"Get going Alice!" Dagger told her. "We'll handle this!"

Alice gave a quick nod to thank her friends and charged at the wall of goblins. She put everything she had into one powerful skill as her scythe lit up in a violet light. She spun it around like a cyclone as she smashed through the goblins and made it past them. The second she felt her body able to move again, Alice took off running after her sister.

Some of the goblins tired to give chase, but a sudden red blur sped past them and stood between them and Alice. Ren glared at the group of monsters. "You're fighting me you bastards."

With her friends dealing with what was left of the goblin mob, Alice ran. She moved as fast as her legs would allow her. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going at this point. The goblins must have had a good lead on her because she couldn't even see them. But this canyon so far had been a straight path. She prayed it would stay that way.

Her prayers were unanswered.

Alice finally came up to a fork in the road. There were two paths, and the goblins were too far ahead for her to tell which way they went. She looked back and forth at the two paths, desperately trying to figure out which one to take.

"Mai!" Alice shouted, tears of worry forming in her eyes. "Can you hear me?! Mai!"

No answer came. Alice knew she couldn't afford to waste any more time and took off running along the path to the right. She could only hope she had chosen correctly. After a few minutes of running, she reached the end of the canyon. Stretched out before her were plains and a mountain range in the distance. There was no sign of the goblins, and no sign of her sister.

Tears welled up in Alice's eyes as she screamed out her sister's name. "MAI!"

Alice fell to her knees and cried. Her teardrops splashed on the rocky ground. She stayed like that for the next few minutes before Ren caught up to her using the speed of his Crimson Flash.

"Alice!" Ren called out. "Are you alr-" Ren stopped talking as he saw Alice crying on the ground. He could tell by the state she was in that she hadn't caught up to them. He looked out into the distance. No sign of Mai and too much ground to cover quick enough to catch up. He put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find her Alice. I promise."

"Ren… I'm scared." Alice sobbed. "What if she's dying right now?"

"That's not going to happen." Ren told her as he kneeled down and looked at her at eye level. "Remember what Argo said. The rate of players dying when captured is extremely slow. We'll find her in time."

It wasn't much comfort, but it was all Ren could give at the moment. Alice threw herself at him, hugging him tightly as tears rolled down her cheeks. All she could think about was the danger her sister was in right now.

Several minutes passed before Helios and the rest of the guild caught up to Ren and Alice. Wyvern's Inferno spent the rest of the day searching the area, trying to find any clue as to where the goblins had taken Mai. Her HP gauge on the list of party members hadn't fallen down any further, so that showed she was alive at the very least. But by the time nightfall approached, they hadn't found any trace of their guild member. Reluctantly and with their heads held low, they teleported back to town.

When they returned to the town at the teleport gate, the group split up for the night. Ren had to report to Heathcliff everything that had happened. But at the same time, he didn't want to leave Alice alone right now in the depressed state she was in. He doubted if him staying would do any good though. All of his attempts to cheer her up so far had been decent at best.

As Ren contemplated what to do, a hand tapped on his shoulder. Dagger showed him a reassuring smile. "I'll keep an eye on her for now. You go and report to Heathcliff."

It wasn't a solution to improve Alice's mood much, but at least someone would be with her right now. Ren gave the merchant an appreciative smile. "Thanks."

Dagger nodded and walked with Alice back to the inn. Ren walked back up to the teleportation altar. One thing was certain in his mind. He was going to make damn sure that they rescued Mai and took out every last one of those goblins.

' _Cause no one messes with Wyvern's Inferno and gets away with it.'_

* * *

Dagger walked alongside Alice as they made their way through the streets and towards the inn. The red-haired merchant could feel her guildmate's depression without even looking at her. She couldn't blame her though. Who wouldn't be depressed if their sister was being held captive with a fair chance of her dying?

She had told Ren she'd keep an eye on Alice. But what was she supposed to do or say to improve her mood?

"Are you going to be okay Alice?" She asked carefully.

"I won't be okay until I not only get Mai back but tear the heads off of every single goblin that dared to even touched her!"

The merchant nervously stepped back a bit away from the sad berserk girl. "Of course why wouldn't you?" While she wanted to step carefully considering the volatile mood of Alice, Dagger changed her mind when she saw tears begin to stream down the scythe wielder's face.

"... I just feel so useless right now. Mai could be suffering for all I know and here I am sitting here safe in the inn. I couldn't even protect my little sister from being captured by those monsters." She sobbed, barely shifting when the red haired merchant put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "... I'm a horrible sister."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there Alice! You, a horrible sister? Did you hit your head or something because as far as I'm concerned you love that girl more than I love money. And that is saying something." Dagger countered.

Alice looked up at her company and shook her head. "No I'm not. An older sister is supposed to look after their younger siblings and protect them from harm. I didn't do either of those things and now she's gone."

"Alice you can't think like that, Mai is a big girl who's a good fighter on her own right. Sure she got captured but what happened when you couldn't find her?"

"I…"

"I'll tell you what you did. You sliced your way through an entire legion of goblins and then some just to try to get her back." Dagger moved in front of Alice and put her hands of her shoulders. "Trust me when I say that Mai will be fine so long as you keep that fighting spirit when Ren comes up with a plan to not only save your sister but to tear apart every single goblin that thinks they can stand between you and her."

Alice stood genuinely surprised at Dagger's attempts to knock her out of her depressed funk. Considering all the actions that she had witnessed or heard the merchant do, she never thought that she would be so stalwart in trying to be a good friend to her. "How can you be so sure she'll be safe?"

"Okay Alice, since you don't want to see the basic facts of our eventual rescue of Mai let's make a bet."

"Dagger I really don't think-"

"Aup, aup, aup! Deal making time." She interrupted, raising one finger. "Okay if she is completely safe and sound by the end of this whole ordeal is over you pay for one date between me and Helios." Before Alice could even object Dagger raised a second finger. "And if she is hurt in any way, for every percent of HP she lost when we rescue her, I'll give you 100 Col for each one."

Now this was something else entirely. Dagger was not only making a bet where she would hardly benefit from it, she was betting her hard earned money, her second or first depending on who you asked love next to Helios.

' _Is she that confident that we'll rescue Mai with no problems?'_

"So what do you say Alice? Deal or no deal?"

Alice looked at the extended hand of Dagger's, waiting for her answer to her wager with a smile that promised things would be okay. Feeling a smile come to her own face, the scythe user shook her hand, accepting the bet in confidence. "I hope you won't flake out on handing me that money Dagger."

"Oh please, I'll be sure to send you the bill for our date once this day is over."

* * *

"Let me go you creeps!" Mai yelled as she struggled to break free from the goblins' hold on her.

"Stop struggling human. Just behave." one of the goblins dragging her along said. It was one of the few phrases any of them said, the only thing that showed they were still programs and not full on AIs. They were definitely a lot more intelligent than regular goblins though, Mai had to admit that.

Finally the goblins reached a cage in the dungeon they had brought Mai in. They opened the door and threw her in. Before Mai could attack them, the door slammed shut in her face. She gripped the bars of the prison gate and glared at the monsters. "Let me out of here right now!"

The goblins ignored Mai and walked away, carrying her rapier with them. It disgusted Mai to no end to see her treasured weapon in the hands of those monsters. "Get back here!"

"Save your breath. It's no use."

Mai turned around as the voice registered in her ears. She gasped as she saw several players sitting around, all of them looking depressed and defeated. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, counting about twenty players, give or take a few.

"The goblins captured all of you?" Mai asked.

"No. We just strolled into this cage cause it sounded like a good time." one of the players sarcastically remarked.

A girl at his side put a hand on the shoulder of the player that had just spoke. "Calm down Izaki. There's no need to snap at her." She looked at Mai. "Sorry about him. He's just on edge after being stuck here for the past few days."

Mai looked at the players in the cage. "Hasn't anyone tried to break out yet?"

"We've tried, believe me. But the prison bars are too high priority. We can't even put a dent in them."

Mai showed a small grin on her face. "Well maybe you guys can't, but even without my main weapon I'm sure I can break it with something else." She swiped her hand down to open her menu, but looked confused when it didn't appear. She swiped her hand over and over again. "What's going on? Why isn't my menu opening?!"

"Won't work." another player explained. "The system isn't allowing us to open our menus. And all of the weapons we had on us were confiscated by those goblins."

Mai stared at the players. None of them seemed to have any hope. They all seemed to have given up. "But... there has to be SOMETHING we can do! Who knows what'll happen if we just sit here?"

"I can answer that." Izaki muttered grimly. "We die. Every day, those goblins show up and drag one of us away. None of them have ever come back."

The news struck fear in Mai as her eyes widened in horror. Players had already died do to the event going on, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad She tried to think of something to say to encourage the others. "It'll be alright. My friends will find a way to rescue us. I'm sure of it."

Izaki let out a harsh laugh. "You're nuts. This dungeon is heavily guarded by those goblins. Even the front line parties would have a tough time getting past them."

"That's what you think." Mai grinned. "But Wyvern's Inferno never gives up, no matter what."

The mention of Wyvern's Inferno caught the attention of a few of the players there. Whispers went around, talking about the guild. Mai saw a glimmer of hope. "My guild and the rest of the front lines WILL rescue us. I'm sure of it."

One of the players, a young girl who was even younger than Mai looked at her. Tears were present in her eyes. "Will we really be rescued? We're not going to die?"

Mai walked up to the girl and patted her on the head while showing her a soft smile. "I promise. My friends don't give up easily. And if it comes down to it, I'll find a way to break us out."

Izaki rolled his eyes as he continued to lean against the wall. "You can go ahead and play make believe all you want kid. The fact remains that we're still gonna die in here."

 **A/N: Phew, this one took a bit to write out. But I'm finally done. The next chapter may or may not take some time to get out. I'm starting college again in two weeks, but I don't know what my schedule is going to be for those two weeks. Hopefully I will be able to get the next chapter out before I go back to college. Once college starts, updates will be less frequent so I'll be trying to get out what I can before then.**


	25. Dungeons and Goblins

**A/N: Hey everyone. It's time for the new chapter you've all been waiting for. For those of you that haven't started Blazing Revolution yet because you're waiting for this story to end first, Blazing Revolution only has a few chapters left before it ends. By the time this story is over, Blazing Revolution will definitely be finished, so none of you guys will have to worry about catching up with updates. It also means I will have more time to work on other fics like this one so updates should hopefully be a little more frequent once that happens. Anyways, here's the chapter folks.**

Mai slowly opened her eyes as she woke up. The cold hard dungeon room floor had been anything but comfortable for her to sleep on. To make matters worse, everyone in the cage was still giving off the depressing vibe Mai had felt since she had gotten there. She was tired, hungry, and a little scared at this point. What if Alice and the others couldn't save them all in time?

' _No, I can't think like that!'_ Mai told herself as she shook her head. ' _They'll save us. And if they can't, then I'll save us.'_

"That look on your face is so stupid."

Mai looked over and saw Izaki glancing at her as he sat with his back leaning against the wall. She pouted and glared back at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've got this expression that shows you're determined everything is going to work out alright. It's so stupid."

"What the heck is your problem?! Why do you think I should just give up and do nothing?!"

"Because that's all we can do, you moron!" Izaki yelled back harshly. "Open your eyes kid! The bars are impossible to break! We have no weapons! And to top it all off, the army of goblins out there is so big that the front lines won't even bother trying to risk their necks to rescue us, if they even find this place at all to begin with!"

"They WILL save us! My friends are with the front lines and they'd never give up on players in trouble!"

"Anyone with the assault team takes clearing the game as their top priority. They'll ditch us here to die and that's all there is to it, your friends included."

Mai stood up and began storming over towards Izaki. "Say that again! I dare you!"

"That's enough, both of you." a female player said, stepping in-between Mai and Izaki. Mai vaguely remembered her as the girl that had been with Izaki when she first came here yesterday. "You're scaring some of the other players."

Mai looked around, seeing that some of the younger players were starting to shiver a little. The thought of dying here probably affected them the most. Mai also noticed the little girl she had comforted earlier nearly on the verge of tears. She recalled back when she was younger and got sad. Alice was always there for her and cheered her up.

Walking over to her, Mai kneeled down in front of the girl and showed her a soft smile. The girl wiped her eyes, but more tears still came. "I-I'm scared. What if those goblins come back and take one of us again."

Mai put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It'll be fine. My friends will rescue us before that happens. And if they don't, then I'll protect you."

Izaki rolled his eyes. He didn't know whether Mai was just unbelievably brave or unbelievably stupid. She was just as helpless as the rest of them. Fighting against the goblins in their current situation would be suicide.

The girl that had stopped the fight between him and Mai took a seat next to him. "That girl really is strong for her age."

"It's not like she'll be able to change anything. The front lines are going to abandon us. That's what they do."

"Come on Izaki. Don't you think you're being a little hard on her?"

"Don't go lecturing me Selena. You know what they're like. Her talking about the front lines coming to save us is just that. Talk. In the end, we're all going to die here and there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it."

Selena sighed and put a hand on Izaki's shoulder. "You can't go blaming the entire front lines for what happened to Rio."

Izaki simply grunted and looked away. "Just leave me alone, Selena."

Selena tried thinking of something to say to her friend. But in the end, she couldn't figure out anything to say and stayed silent.

* * *

Ren stood in the command room of the Knights of the Blood Oath. He was in a bad mood, and it was easy for Heathcliff and the other high ranking members of the Knights to tell. News about Mai's capture had spread around the front lines and the leader of Wyvern's Inferno was desperate to get his guild member back.

"Do we have any new leads on where the dungeon those goblins are holed up in is?" Ren asked.

"I'm afraid not." Heathcliff said with a shake of his head. "Our scouts yesterday all reported back, but none of them located any type of base. Right now, most of the guilds are searching past that canyon you mentioned in your report yesterday."

Ren had expected as much. He hated feeling so helpless in this situation. All he could do was stand around and wait for a report to come in. Going to Floor 53 now was dangerous, even more so without a full party. He couldn't risk losing any more of his guild to the goblins. But there was one thing he was sure of.

"Commander Heathcliff, I want to make a request." Ren said. "When we discover the location of the goblin's base, let me lead the rescue mission."

Heathcliff and the other KoB members present all stared at Ren. They could tell he was serious about this. "Ren… I'm not sure that's a good idea. You're taking this situation extremely personally."

"Of course I am! One of my guild members is stuck in this mess!" Ren shouted. "Please! You have to let me do this!"

Heathcliff stared directly into Ren's eyes. "Leading a mission of this magnitude will require a calm head, and careful planning. Are you sure you'll be able to do that given the circumstances?"

Ren responded without even batting an eye. "Absolutely."

Several seconds passed as Heathcliff stared at Ren, contemplating what to do. Finally, he nodded his head in confirmation. "Very well. You and your guild will be in charge of the rescue operation while the rest of the raid party will focus on dealing with the goblins themselves."

"Thank you very much, Commander." Ren said with a bow. "I promise I won't let you down."

"Just remember that a lot more players other than Mai are trapped right now." Heathcliff added. "I expect you to act impartial to any personal feelings you might have. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Now then, let's-"

Heathcliff was cut off as the doors to the room suddenly swung open. A player barged in, slowly trying to catch his breath. "Commander sir, urgent news!"

"What is it?" Heathcliff asked.

"One of the parties just reported back. They've found the dungeon the goblins are holding the players."

The entire group gasped at the news. Ren was the first to make a response. "Where is it?"

"The dungeon seems to be a massive fort built into the side of a mountain." the player explained. "There's just one small problem."

"And what would that be?" Heathcliff asked.

"The massive number of goblins there."

"Could you be more specific when you say massive?"

The player swallowed hard before answering. "By our estimate, there's at least a thousand."

* * *

If there was one word to sum up being trapped in a cage for an indefinite amount of time, it would be boring. Sitting around, unable to do anything but wait for something to happen. An aura of depression filling the air. In Mai's opinion, the worst part was having Izaki in the same room as her.

She couldn't stand him. All he did was say that they had no chance of escaping. What was the point of it? He had absolutely no faith in the assault team as well. Just what was it that made him so bitter?

All Mai could do now was sit and lean against the dungeon wall. She wondered how the others were right now. Alice was probably worrying about her and in full on panic mode. Ren would most likely be devising a plan to rescue her and the others. And Helios… well he was probably still being the same unbearable asshole he always was. She didn't even want to think about the teasing she'd receive from him about getting herself captured.

Suddenly Mai noticed the female player from before take a seat next to her. The older girl showed her a smile. "Hey. Your name's Mai, right?"

"Mhm." Mai nodded. "And your name is… Selena?"

"Yep." Selena replied. "So, you still trying to think of a way to escape?"

"Sort of." Mai replied. "My guild leader is the real strategist of my group. I wish I had his sharp mind right now."

"Sounds like you really look up to him."

Mai nodded her head. "Yeah. He saved me and my sister back in the early days of SAO. But he's not the only one that's amazing in my guild. My sister was the first scythe wielder the game had ever seen. One of our members is a total jerk, but he's one of the strongest tanks on the front lines." A sad smile formed on her face. "If I'm being honest, I'm the only one in the guild who's just average. They've all got something they contribute but I'm just a regular girl without anything special about me."

"I don't think that's true." Selena said with a shake of her head. "I may not know much about your guildmates, but I'm sure they all see something special in you."

"Like what?"

"For starters, that peppy spirit you have." Selena told her. "Even though a lot of us here have given up any hope of escaping this place, you don't let it get to you. You manage to stand tall and believe that we'll all make it out. And I bet there's plenty more your friends see in you."

A soft smile appeared on Mai's face. "Thanks Selena." Her eyes glanced over towards Izaki. She noticed him staring at her, but he immediately averted his gaze once she looked at him. "Ugh, what's that guy's problem anyway?"

"You'll have to forgive Izaki. He's been through some hard times."

"I think all of us have." Mai muttered harshly. "That's no excuse for him to be such a jerk. And he has no faith in the assault team either."

"He has his reasons for that." Selena told her.

Mai seemed confused as she looked at Selena. "What do you mean?"

Selena's expression grimaced as she began to explain. "Izaki joined my party a few months ago. Before that though, he lived in the Town of Beginnings on Floor 1. He stayed down there with a friend of his from the real world, a girl named Rio."

"What does that have to do with the assault team?" Mai asked.

"I'm getting to that. Now I'm sure you've heard about how the Army controls Floor 1 for the most part. And there's the fact that they're forcing players there to pay taxes. It became a huge dictatorial organization. One day, Rio stood up to a party of Army members that were harassing some players. She was a decent level, but the Army players had her outnumbered. They easily overpowered her and dragged her away. Izaki hasn't seen her since that day." She saw Mai's gasp and could tell what the young girl was thinking. "I don't believe she's dead. I think the Army is just keeping her locked away somewhere. If there was a PK, the front lines would have definitely come to investigate. But that's what Izaki hates about the assault team. They didn't come and deal with the Army, despite how bad things have gotten. He blames them for what happened to Rio."

Mai lowered her head. She knew that things were bad in the Town of Beginnings. The front lines knew full well from rumors that the Army had more or less taken control of the town. But they had been busy clearing floors throughout Aincrad, and dealing with a guild as big as the Army would take too much time. But she hadn't known that things had gotten that bad down there.

"After what happened to Rio, Izaki left the Town of Beginnings. He joined up with me and my party and we helped him raise his level. But now this happened." Selena let out a sigh. "I know Izaki's blame is misplaced, but I don't know how to show him."

"... I never realized that happened to him." Mai frowned.

Before the girls could continue, the sound of footsteps outside were heard. Several players turned their heads as two goblins walked towards the cage. Mai felt her body tense up. She didn't know what was going on, but it couldn't be good. Everyone watched in silence as one of the goblins unlocked the door to the cage and walked in.

"One human comes with us." the goblin spoke. "Our king is hungry."

Mai grinded her teeth in frustration. She knew from Izaki that the goblins had been taking away players each day. But it was to become food? If that was the case, then all of the players that they had taken away so far had probably suffered the same fate. She wanted to fight the two goblins right here and now, but how? She was completely unarmed while the goblins all had weapons in hand. As much as she hated to admit it, Izaki had a point. They wouldn't be able to escape with such a huge disadvantaged.

The goblin scanned around the room, finally laying his eyes on the little girl out of the players. He walked towards her. "Come human. You're going to be today's meal."

Mai gasped as she watched the goblin walk towards the girl. The fear in the young player's eyes was easy to see as she crawled back. "N-No! I don't wanna go!"

"Stop whining, human. Die now if you resist."

' _What do I do?'_ Mai asked herself. She could play it safe and hope the front lines found them in time to rescue the girl. But the chances of that happening were slim at best. She had promised to protect her. What else could she do though? Fight the goblins unarmed?

"Help! I don't want to die!"

Mai felt the war going on through her mind. She didn't have a choice and she knew it. Without even thinking, Mai leapt to her feet and ran towards the goblin. "Let her go!"

The goblin turned its head towards Mai as the young girl lunged at him. Mai grabbed him from behind and struggled with him. The girl he was holding broke free of the grip on her arm and ran towards a corner of the dungeon as Mai desperately tried to hold onto the goblin. The monster twisted and turned its body, finally succeeding in shaking Mai off. Mai felt her body roll painfully onto the cold hard ground. As she got to her feet, the goblin swung its club at Mai, sending her flying back and crashing into the wall. She fell to the ground as her HP fell drastically.

"You dare attack goblins?! Learn your place." the goblin glared as it walked towards her. "Change of plans. You die instead of other human."

Mai closed her eyes as the goblin prepared to swing its weapon down at her. When the blow never came however, she opened her eyes and gasped as she saw Izaki struggling with the goblin.

"What are you doing?!" Mai exclaimed.

"Just shut up and help me!" Izaki yelled at her, struggling to keep his hold on the goblin.

The goblin outside the cage saw the trouble its friend was having dealing with the humans. It entered with its club held tightly.

An idea flashed in Mai's head. She got to her feet and rushed at the goblin Izaki was fighting with. "Izaki, duck!"

The male player did as Mai said. Mai kicked off the ground and lunged at the goblin. Her foot lit up with a yellow light as she delivered a kick to the goblin. Her martial arts skill was nowhere near that of her sister's, but it was still a basic skill that even she knew. Her kick made the goblin stumble back and crash into its friend. Mai stood firm as the two goblins glared at her and Izaki. The two of them had gotten themselves into this mess, and now they were going to have to see it through. Mai did her best to recall how Alice fought with her martial arts skill. She was going to need something to go on with her lack of experience in hand to hand combat.

"Stupid humans. Die now." one of the goblins growled as it leaped at Mai. She backflipped away as it swung its club down at her. Mai gasped as the second goblin leaped over its partner and attacked her.

As Izaki watched Mai struggle to dodge to tag team assault from the goblins, Selena joined in the fight and jumped at one of the goblins from behind. It easily shook her off, but it allowed Mai the chance to get away and avoid being backed into a corner. The two goblins were now starting to get agitated as their grips on their weapons tightened. Just past them, Izaki could see the open cage door. If they could make it past those goblins, they'd be able to run through that door.

Suddenly, an idea came to Izaki. He yelled over to Mai. "Kid, distract them!"

"What?!" Mai gasped as she looked at him like he was crazy.

"Just do it!"

Mai rolled her eyes as she ran at the goblins. All she had to do was avoid the clubs. It was like a game of tag, just one with much higher stakes.

As Mai kept the goblins' attention, Izaki reached out his hand towards his friend. "Selena!"

Selena read Izaki's mind and nodded her head. She ran at him and grabbed Izaki's hand. Iazaki spun his body around like a tornado, along with Selena. When he felt he had enough momentum, he threw Selena at the goblins. "Kid, move!"

Mai turned her head and widened her eyes as she saw Selena come flying at her. She quickly jumped away as Selena flew past her. The older girl delivered a painful kick to one of the goblins, making him crash into his partner and send both of them flying into the bars of the cage. They were dazed and stumbled around slightly.

"Now's our chance! Everyone run!" Selena yelled.

Nobody needed to be told twice as they all rushed out of the cage. Selena, Izaki, and Mai soon followed them, but not before Mai swiped the keys from one of the goblins. Before the monsters could shake the dizziness, Mai slammed the cage door shut and locked it. The goblins gripped the steel bars and glared at her as she showed them a smug grin.

"You'll pay for this, human girl! Let goblins out now!"

"Sorry. I don't think so." Mai giggled as she walked away while spinning the ring of keys around her finger to further humiliate the goblins. She could hear the roars coming from the monsters behind her, but with that cage separating them and her, she didn't feel like they'd be any threat now.

Mai walked over to the other prisoners, who were gathered together a short distance from the cage. The little girl that Mai had protected ran over to her as she saw her walk over. "Thank you so much, miss! You saved me!"

"Don't worry about it. It was nothing." Mai told her as she patted the girl's head. She glanced slightly at Izaki. " _Anyone_ from the front lines would have done the same." She got to her feet and this time stared directly at the male player. "Why did you help me, anyway? I thought you said trying to break out would be suicide."

Izaki grunted and looked away from Mai. "Forget about it. Anyway, what do we do now? Getting out of this dungeon without any weapons is most likely impossible, and we still can't open our menus to grab any teleport crystals."

Mai thought to herself for a bit. They couldn't stay here. The next goblin patrol could show up and their success just now had mostly been due to luck. If they fought a full mob, they'd have no chance at winning. They were all unarmed, at that made things dangerous for them. All Mai had on her other than her armor was the ring of keys she had pocketed from the goblins just now.

' _That's it! We have the keys to every place in this dungeon!'_ Mai realized. The reason they were at such a disadvantage was because they had no weapons on them. So they'd just have to get their weapons back.

A grin appeared on Mai's face. She looked at Izaki. "I'll tell you what we do now. We break into their armory."

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I decided to make this one focused mostly around Mai cause I feel like she deserves it and doesn't get enough spotlight. Next chapter will have plenty of action with Mai as well as the others from Wyvern's Inferno. See you all then.**


	26. Breakout

**A/N: Here it is everyone. The new chapter. For all of you that are waiting for this to finish before reading Blazing Revolution, I would like to inform you that Blazing Revolution has finished. The last chapter was posted last week so once this story is over, you will not have to worry about catching up on Blazing Revolution and being left on a cliffhanger. It also means I will have more time to focus on this story so updates should be a little more frequent.**

Ren stared at the goblin fortress. It was built into the side of the mountain so it was safe to assume that it was much larger than it looked on the outside. The only entrance he could see from the cover of the forest where he and the rest of the players were currently hiding was an opening where they would have to run up a hill to reach. There was only one thing standing in their way. A giant army of goblins.

The recon team had reported they had seen at least a thousand goblins standing guard outside of the fortress, and it was clear they weren't exaggerating. The part that had Ren worried was this was only the number of them outside of the fortress. Just how many were there inside?

Ren heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see Heathcliff walking up to him. "Everyone is ready. It doesn't seem like the goblins have noticed us yet."

"Understood." Ren nodded.

"I'll lead the troops in for a full on charge against the troops outside while your team rescues the captured players. However, that means you and your guild will have to deal with whatever number of enemies are lurking inside that dungeon."

"I'm well aware of that." Ren told him. "I'll put priority on avoiding battle if possible. Once we find the players, we'll get them out and then we'll retreat."

Heathcliff gave a stern look at Ren. "I know I told you this already, but you can't let personal feelings cloud your judgement during this mission. As the one leading the rescue team, you must act impartial to whatever desires you have to save your guild member."

"You won't have to worry about me, Commander Heathcliff." Ren said as he grabbed the hilt of his sword. "We'll rescue all of the captured players." A fierce determination burned in his eyes. "And once they're safe, every single one of those goblins is going to be exterminated."

"Well at least you're motivated." Heathcliff said. "We'll commence the attack in five minutes. Be ready."

"We will." Ren watched as Heathcliff walked back to the rest of the players. Alice walked up next to him. Ren could clearly see the worry in her eyes. "Don't worry, Alice. We'll save her. I swear it."

Alice nodded her head. "I know Ren. I trust you. I'm just…"

Ren pulled Alice in close and hugged her. "It's alright to be scared. I'm a little scared too. But we WILL save her."

Alice hugged Ren back and gave a small nod of her head. "Yeah. Let's do it."

"If you two lovebirds are done over there." Dagger said as she walked up, twirling her weapon in her hand. "It's time to get ready. I have some col to collect once this is all over."

A small smile came to Alice's face at her friend trying to encourage her. "I hope you do win this bet Dagger. I really do."

Time was running short. The nearly two-hundred players that had been amassed for the rescue mission all got into position. Ren and Wyvern's Inferno stood ready to move in once there was an opening.

Finally Heathcliff gave the signal to move. "Everyone charge!"

A loud collective war cry echoed from the army of players as they emerged from the forest and charged towards the goblin fortress. The multitude of goblins took notice of them and all let out warning cries to alert their friends. Soon the thousand goblins all ran towards the players. Both groups roared as they approached each other.

Weapons clashed against each other as the clearing near the mountainside quickly turned into a war zone. Looking back from the trees, Ren and Wyvern's Inferno could see the gruesome battle waging on. Ren steeled his resolve. He was going to make sure they succeeded, no matter what.

"Let's move guys. Follow my lead."

The guild responded with a collective nod and they all ran out of the trees. Ren saw the path for them to take. Once they got inside the fortress, they could work on finding Mai and the others. It was getting into the fortress that was going to be the problem though.

"Helios, clear a path! Dagger and Riku, cover him and make sure those goblins don't block Helios's path!" Ren shouted.

"Right!" the three players responded. Helios charged in with his axe and activated a sword skill, blasting away the goblins in front of him and creating an opening for his guild. Two goblins lunged at him, but Dagger jumped in and used her boyfriend as a balancing board for her hand as she simultaneously kicked both monsters away. Riku finished the two goblins off with a barrage of throwing knives. Ren and Alice ran through the opening Helios provided them, with the rest of their guild following right behind them. A wall of goblins formed to prevent Wyvern's Inferno from reaching the dungeon they called home.

Alice tightened her grip on her scythe as she sped in. "Out of our way!" With a powerful swing of her weapon, Alice swatted away the horde of monsters blocking their path. Ren used the speed of his Crimson Flash to quickly slash each of them and take out their remaining HP.

The entrance was within sight. Ren and the others ran as fast as they could to get in. Their close proximity to the dungeon seemed to get the goblins fighting the army of players to aggro them. They suddenly began to ignore the players they were fighting and gave chase to Wyvern's Inferno. The goblins soon found their path blocked off however as a lone player managed to cut through them and stand in their way. Sword in one hand and shield in the other, Heathcliff stood as a barrier between the goblins and Wyvern's Inferno.

"Thanks Heathcliff! We owe you one!" Ren shouted as he and his guild ran inside.

' _Don't go thanking me yet.'_ Heathcliff silently thought. ' _The enemies out here are canon fodder compared to the thing waiting for you in there.'_

* * *

Mai peeked her head around a corner. In front of them was a hallway with a steel door at the end. Two goblins were standing guard. There didn't seem to be any other enemies around other than them. If she had her rapier, she knew she could take them easily. But currently she was still unarmed. They had yet to locate the armory. Quickly ducking back around the corner, Mai walked over to the rest of her fellow escapees.

"There's a guarded door just beyond here. Two goblins." Mai informed them.

"So what's our plan? Do we find another route?" Izaki asked.

Mai swiped her finger and opened her menu. Since escaping the cell they had been kept in, Mai and the others had regained access to their menus. Their equipment and item storage were still sealed off however. Both tabs were shaded, meaning they couldn't be used. But at the very least, access to their menus meant they had access to their map data. Mai stared at the map they had obtained from the dungeon so far.

"We've made our way through a fair amount of the floor." Mai said. "Any alternate path we take if we go back leads us to a guarded area. I don't think we can avoid a fight no matter where we go."

"Then let's take this one here." Selena suggested. "We haven't found any guarded areas with less security so far. Besides, if we head back we run the risk of running into a patrol."

"Fair point." Mai agreed. "Alright, I'll be the bait and lure them over. Then you guys catch them by surprise."

Izaki and Selena nodded and got ready. Mai took a deep breath before walking out. As she walked out from the corner, the two goblins caught sight of her. Mai waved over to them. "Hey uglies! Your security in this place really stinks!"

"Human girl escape! Get her!" one of the goblins said. The two of them both ran towards Mai with tight grips on their weapons.

Mai giggled innocently as the goblins closed in on her. Closer. Just a little closer. Now! In an instant, Mai went from helpless little girl to skilled warrior of the assault team. She dodged the attacks from the two goblins and ran under them, making a breakneck run for the door they were guarding. As the goblins were about to give chase, a sudden collective cry caused them to turn to their left and see Izaki, Selena, and several other escapees that were a high enough level all charge and rush the two goblins. The number of players managed to overwhelm the goblins and pin them down. But the growls and roars coming from the two monsters told them that they wouldn't be able to hold them down for long.

"Hey kid! Hurry and see what's behind that door!" Izaki yelled. "We can't keep this up forever!"

Mai didn't slow down as she ran towards the steel doors. She took the ring of keys she had and began trying each one to open the doors. Finally she felt one of the keys go in. Mai pushed the doors open with all her strength. She gasped at what was in front of her.

Weapons. And lots of them.

' _It's the armory!'_ Mai realized as she grinned. They finally had access to some weapons.

"Hey shrimp! Hurry it up!"

Being called shrimp struck a nerve in Mai, but she knew that she couldn't stand around forever. She quickly looked around the room at the weapons in stock. Finally her eyes caught sight of what she was looking for. Her weapon. Shooting Star.

Seeing the shiny weapon after being separated from it brought joy to Mai's heart. She grabbed the hilt of the thin weapon as her lips curved into a smile. "Hello there beautiful."

Back by the goblins, Izaki and the others were finding it harder to keep the goblins pinned down. The goblins were gradually starting to push them away. Izaki grinded his teeth as he put as much weight as he could on the goblin he was pinning down. "Stop struggling you bastard."

Finally the defenses of the escapees broke. The two goblins shoved them off and got to their feet. Izaki and Selena widened their eyes in fear while others watching screamed in terror as the goblins lunged at the group of players that had tried to overpower them.

"Stupid humans! You die now!"

"Not on my watch!" Mai yelled. She let out a battle cry as she sped past Izaki and the others in the blink of an eye and delivered a powerful thrust from her rapier. The blow sent the goblin flying back and crashing into the nearby wall. The other goblin roared angrily at Mai and attacked her, but Mai managed to duck under the swing of the goblin's weapon. She thrusted her rapier upwards and stabbed the goblin in the head, depleting it of whatever HP it still had.

The other players gasped in shock as they stared at Mai with her weapon in hand. Mai grinned and showed them a victory sign. "Guess what I found behind those doors."

Everyone looked over towards the doors to confirm their suspicions. Their faces all brightened at the sight of the armory. A growl from the other goblin they still had yet to defeat brought their attention back to him as it glared angrily at the players.

"Grab your weapons. I can take this guy." Mai said, getting into a battle ready stance.

The escapees all ran towards the armory as Mai and the remaining goblin charged at each other. Now that she had her weapon back, Mai was easily able to overpower the goblin. Within a matter of seconds, the monster had shattered into polygons and Mai was sheathing her rapier.

By the time Mai walked back into the armory, nearly everyone had regained their weapons. Mai also decided to test a theory she had and opened her menu. Just as she thought, she had access to her item storage and equipment again.

"Nice! We've got our items back!" one of the players cheered. "We can use our teleport crystals to get out of this hellhole!"

"Yeah! We can finally go home!" a girl said cheerfully. She took out a teleport crystal and raised it into the air. "Teleport! Town of Beginnings!" A few seconds passed by with nothing happening. The player tried it again. "Teleport! Town of Beginnings!"

Several players brought out their teleport crystals, calling out various locations to teleport to. Nothing came of it however. Mai knew that could only mean one thing. "This entire dungeon is an anti-crystal area."

The little girl in the group of escapees trembled at this news. "Wh-What do we do? How will we get out of here if we can't use our teleport crystals?"

Mai thought to herself for a moment. What should she do? What would Ren do if he were here? There was no telling how big this dungeon was. It could take them hours to find a way out, and Mai knew they didn't have the stamina to last that long. That meant only one option.

"We'll split up into two teams." Mai suggested. "We'll be able to cover more ground that way."

"Split up? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Izaki asked. "Not all of us are high leveled like you kid."

"If we move in a large group, it'll take too long. We'll be able to move faster with less people bunched together and we'll cover more ground."

"And just how do we contact each other if we find an exit? We can't send messages inside a dungeon."

Izaki raised a fair point. For splitting up to work, they'd need a way to alert each other if one of the groups found the exit. Suddenly Mai thought of an idea. She opened her menu and looked into her item storage, bringing out a pair of small blue squared objects.

"What are those?" Selena asked.

"These are both items called Communication Crystals." Mai explained. She tapped the two crystals against each other and they both glowed for a brief moment. "You link them up to each other like this and you can use them to send short voice messages from one crystal to another." She handed one of the crystals to Selena, putting the other one back in her item storage. "A notification window will pop up when a message comes to your crystal."

"So we can alert each other if one group finds the exit." Selena realized. "That should work."

"I'll lead one group and you can lead the other." Mai said. "Now we just need to split everyone into two teams in a way where we'll each have a decent amount of fighting power."

The group spent the next few minutes dividing themselves up so that neither group would be hindered in battle. As Mai was deliberating teams, the young girl out of them walked up to Mai.

"Umm… miss Mai?"

"Just Mai is fine." she told her. "What do you need."

"Well… I was wondering… could I be in your group?"

Mai blinked her eyes in mild surprise. "Me? Why?"

"You helped save me earlier. And I'm still a little scared. But if you're there… I think I'll feel a lot safer."

A soft smile appeared on Mai's face as she patted the girl on the head. "Alright then. If it means that much to you, you can be on my team."

"Really?! Thank you so much!"

"No problem…" Mai pondered to herself for a moment. "I'm sorry. I still don't know your name."

"It's Lyra." the young girl replied with a smile.

Mai giggled at Lyra's smiling face. Was this what Alice felt whenever she had been comforting her? After returning back to deliberating teams, Mai, Selena, and Izaki had the groups set. Besides Lyra, Mai also had Izaki in her group, as well as about seven other players. Selena was leading the rest of the group in her own team.

"Alright, so we'll message each other if we either get into trouble and need help or find the exit." Mai repeated. "Everyone ready? Let's move."

The two groups split up and went their separate ways. A small sense of anxiety was filling Mai's head. This was her first time leading anyone. Usually it had always been Ren leading while she followed his orders. Mai shook the thoughts out of her head and focussed on the task at hand. She'd need to be at the top of her game to get everyone out of this dungeon.

For the next thirty minutes, Mai lead her team through the floors of the dungeon. They fought mob after mob of goblins. With her stats, dealing with the weak monsters hadn't proved to be much of a challenge. A few of the players in her group were low leveled, but she made sure to compensate for that with formation. She had seen Ren in action enough times to know how to create a basic battle formation.

The mob they were currently fighting only had a few goblins left. Mai thrusted her rapier forward as the goblin blocked with its buckler. She kept up the pressure, finally breaking through the goblin's defenses with a sword skill.

"Now Lyra! Switch!"

"Got it!" Lyra shouted. She ran in and swung her spear at the goblin, piercing its body with the tip of the weapon. The goblin cried out in pain before shattering into fragments. Lyra jumped with an ecstatic cheer. "I did it!"

"Way to go." Mai said as she offered the girl a high five, which Lyra graciously accepted. "You're not half bad with that spear of yours."

"Thanks." Lyra replied with a shy smile. "The truth is, I only use a spear because I'm afraid to get in too close to monsters. A spear has a long reach so I can fight while not having to be as close as I would with most other weapons."

Mai put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't sweat it. Everyone has their own style of fighting."

"Hey, we're all done over here!" Izaki called out. "Let's get a move on!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming!" Mai and Lyra ran over to the rest of their team and kept moving.

Mai's team continued their trip through the dungeon. The floor they were on was very wide and there was no telling where the stairs to the next floor would be. For the next several minutes, they continued to search, finally coming across a large pair of doors. From what Mai could tell, there was a good chance of this leading to the stairs to the next floor, which would get them closer to escaping the dungeon.

"Looks like we're one step closer." Mai grinned. She pushed open the doors and they all walked in through the doors.

The inside of the room was dark, which made it hard to see. Mai used her detection skill to try and get as clear of a view as possible. She couldn't see any stairs, just walls. And something that was standing at the other end of the room.

' _Crap!'_ Mai realized. "Everyone, get out now! It's a miniboss room!"

Mai's warning caused everyone to run back towards the entrance. But what they hadn't expected was an invisible barrier appearing, keeping them trapped inside.

"We can't get out!"

"What do we do now?!"

"Are we going to die here?!"

A loud stomping sound caused Mai and the others to turn around. Torches around the room lit up, lighting up the room. But what they saw at the other end of the room was not a sight they enjoyed.

A giant monster, twice the size of any of them stared at the group of players. It had green skin and a tough looking physique. A caveman-like tunic was all it wore. In its right hand was a large club, and if the look of it was anything to go by, it packed a mean punch. Sitting upon its head was a rusty crown. Two health bars appeared next to it, along with its name. The Goblin King.

"It seems some humans decided to offer themselves up to be my meal." the creature spoke. "I'll eat you like I did the rest."

Mai gritted her teeth. This wasn't a miniboss. This thing was the boss of the entire dungeon. And with no way to escape, they were currently in the worst possible situation.

A few of the players trembled in fear of the monster in front of them. They tried to leave the room again, pounding against the invisible barrier. "We've gotta get out of here! That thing's gonna kill us!"

The Goblin King bent its legs down, before performing a large jump towards Mai and the others. Mai quickly reacted.

"Everyone move!" Mai yelled. She grabbed Lyra's hand and ran away from where they were standing to avoid the incoming Goblin King. Izaki and a few others also ran. A couple of players had been too scared to hear Mai's warning, and were still futilely trying to get through the barrier. Mai gasped as she saw The Goblin King come down at them. "Look out!"

With a giant crash, the boss crushed the players that hadn't run to avoid it. When the debris cleared, the only remaining traces of the players were the polygons that were evaporating into the air.

"No one can leave room, unless I say." the boss growled. "Humans only come in. No out."

The players all seemed paralyzed with fear at the overwhelming might of the monster in front of them. There was no escape for them unless they could defeat the boss. But with this big a difference in strength, was it even possible?

"I-I'm scared." Lyra muttered, trembling next to Mai. "I don't wanna die."

Mai knew she had to do something. As the highest level player there, it was up to her to protect them. She called out to the players. "Run to the edge of the room! Get as far away from the boss as possible!" As the players all ran, she looked over towards Izaki. "You and me will handle the boss!"

Izaki groaned as he drew his sword. "Two people against a boss. Yeah, that sounds like a fair fight."

Mai and Izaki charged at the boss. Mai knew that if their weapons clashed, her rapier would easily be overpowered by the heavy club the boss was wielding. Izaki also wouldn't be able to win in a head to head clash due to his lower stats from his level.

"Dodge the boss's attacks at all costs. Attack from its blind spot and try to whittle its health away." Mai said.

"Like I need you to tell me that, kid."

Mai and Izaki closed in on the boss. The Goblin King swung its club down at them. It was definitely stronger than either one of them, but they had the advantage in speed. They both jumped out of the way as the club crashed down into the ground. Mai then used the opportunity to attack. She charged in and delivered a series of thrusts from her Shooting Star. Izaki also joined in, delivering multiple slashes from his sword. The Goblin King soon recovered though, and swatted both of them away. Mai saw the boss turn its attention to her. She wasn't a big fan of being aggroed due to her flimsy defenses. But her higher level meant she was pulling the most DPS between her and Izaki. She'd just have to be extra careful with dodging the boss's attacks.

"You want me ugly? Come and get me." Mai taunted. She sped at the boss as fast as she could. As the boss swung its club at her, Mai jumped up and hovered over the boss. She pulled her rapier back and thrusted it forward with all of her might, impaling the boss's head and taking out a large chunk of its HP. The rage in the boss's eyes told her she had just made a big mistake as the boss swung its club up, sending Mai flying into the air. The Goblin King then jumped into the air and swung the blunt weapon down at Mai, sending the young girl crashing into the ground painfully. A crater formed upon impact and a large portion of Mai's health was shaved away. Looking up at her HUD, Mai saw her health fall into the red. The boss landed near her, and seemed ready to finish her off.

' _This is bad… at this rate…'_

"Where do you think you're looking pal?!" Izaki yelled as he got behind the boss and delivered a slash from his sword. The boss roared in pain and swung its club around, knocking Izaki back.

"Izaki!" Mai exclaimed.

With the nuisance of a player out of the way, The Goblin King turned back to Mai. It raised its club, ready to strike. As it was about to attack, a sudden player appeared and lunged at the boss. Mai gasped at who it was.

"Leave her alone you bully!" Lyra shouted. She hung onto the boss as it flailed around and tried to shake her off.

"Lyra, what are you doing?!" Mai yelled. "It's dangerous! Get away from it!"

"No!" Lyra responded. "You saved my life and protected me! I won't let you die if I can do something!"

The Goblin King was becoming increasingly annoyed with the girl hanging onto it. It finally managed to shake her off with a violent twist of its body. Lyra tumbled painfully on the ground. She gasped as the boss stood over her, a look of fear present in her eyes.

"Lyra!" Mai exclaimed. She raced towards the girl, pushing her out of the way as the boss reached out its hand. It trapped Mai in a tight grip, painfully squeezing her.

Lyra gasped in shock as tears of fright formed in her eyes. "Mai!"

"Kid!" Izaki exclaimed.

Mai felt herself slowly being crushed by the boss's grip. Her HP slowly began to decrease as the grip tightened more and more. Mai found in harder and harder to breathe. Her HP was nearing zero.

' _Is this it? Am I really going to die here?'_

Suddenly a loud shout echoed throughout the room. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER YOU UGLY BASTARD!"

The eyes of The Goblin King widened in shock as a new appearance suddenly appeared before it, with their fist reeled back and veiled in light. The player threw a devastating punch that made the boss lose its grip on Mai and sent it rocketing back, crashing into the wall at the other end of the room.

Mai looked at the player that had just saved her. She gasped at who it was as tears formed in her eyes. She made a breakneck run for the player. "Alice!"

Alice kneeled down and hugged her sister in a tight embrace. "You're alright! Thank goodness you're alright!"

"I missed you sis." Mai muttered as she held onto her sister, never wanting to let go. "How did you guys find us?"

"We ran into some friends that led the way down to this floor." Alice said with a smile. Mai looked over towards the entrance to the boss room and saw Selena and her group waving over towards her.

Mai gave a soft smile as she waved back to Selena, who quickly ran over to check on Izaki and Lyra. Mai hugged her sister tightly. "I'm so glad you're here Alice. I was so scared."

"I know Mai. It's alright now." Alice said soothingly. "Selena told us how you helped everyone escape. I'm so proud of you."

"If you two are done over there!" Helios shouted as he charged at the boss. "We could really use some help!"

Mai watched as all of her guild ran towards the boss. Ren, Riku, Helios, and Dagger were all here, along with Alice. Red dust surrounded Mai as Alice shattered a healing crystal in front of her, restoring her HP back to a safe amount.

"Just leave the rest to us Mai. You sit back and relax." Alice said as she got to her feet.

Mai grinned as she sprang up to her feet as well. "No way. I didn't come this far just to take a back seat at the end. We're finishing this together."

Alice smiled at her sister and nodded. The two of them ran after their guild and towards the boss.

Helios was the first one to attack as he charged at the boss. The Goblin King roared angrily as it swung its club down, but Helios overpowered it with a swing of his axe. Dagger and Riku rushed past him and each delivered a slash from their blades, creating a large cross shaped gash on the boss. Ren followed up with an assault from his Crimson Flash sword skill, depleting the boss's health even further. Just as it was about to counterattack, it felt a curved blade hook around its waist. Even though she wasn't facing the boss, Alice's eyes showed no mercy.

"This is for hurting my sister." Alice said as she yanked her scythe back, ripping away even more of the boss's health.

Only a fraction of the boss's health remained. Mai leaped into the air and pulled her rapier back. She glared at the boss as she closed in.

"Take this!"

Mai thrusted her rapier forward, impaling the boss and taking out the rest of its HP. The boss let out a loud roar as it cried in pain before shattering into fragments. A large 'Congratulations' sign appeared before them.

With the boss finally beaten, Mai sat down on the floor. She was thoroughly exhausted through all of the fighting she had gone through today. She soon felt Alice wrap her arms around her again. "Alice? What's wrong?"

"I'm just so glad you're safe." Alice cried. "When the goblins captured you, and I couldn't find you… I was so worried. I thought I'd never see you again."

"Aww, see? This heartwarming moment makes all the fighting worth it, right guys?" Dagger said. "Makes you wanna be a better person and forgive all debts a person might owe you."

"I haven't forgotten our bet, Dagger." Alice remarked. She looked at her sister. "Mai, how low would you say your HP was before we showed up."

"Um, pretty low I think." Mai said. "It was in the red after all. Why do you ask?"

Alice shot a smirk towards Dagger, who nervously began to sweat. Alice soon began to giggle. "Don't worry Dagger, you don't have to pay me. I know you were only trying to cheer me up before after all. We found Mai, that's what matters."

Dagger let out a relieved sigh that she wouldn't have to part with any of her hard earned money. The rest of the guild shared a laugh at Dagger's expense.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I say we get out of here." Ren suggested as he sheathed Inferno Blazer onto his back. Heathcliff and the others are probably still fighting outside. The sooner we leave this dungeon, the sooner we can all get out of here and back to town.

"Seconded." Alice agreed.

* * *

Once the captured players were safely led out of the dungeon, everyone teleported back to town. It had been a long few days, but the Revenge of the Goblins event had finally ended with the death of The Goblin King. There had been a few deaths due to the event, which players mourned. But they knew they had to move on.

Mai parted ways with Lyra as the young girl returned to her party of friends. She also said goodbye to both Izaki and Selena. Mai was finally back with her friends. Things were going back to normal.

"Thank god that event is finally over." Riku said as he stretched his arms. "Now we don't have to worry about any more players getting captured."

"And the front lines can finally get back to clearing Floor 75." Ren added. "We're back on track to clearing the game."

Dagger nodded her head. "Too bad Kirito and Asuna were on leave. Having them around would have helped a lot."

"We couldn't go bothering them on vacation." Alice said. "It wouldn't have been right."

"If only we knew where they were." Dagger sighed. "There's tons of players that still want info on the Dual Wielding skill and Kirito's the only one with details on it. And after last time, both he and Asuna have set it so I can't find their location on my Friend's List."

"Can't really blame them, can you?" Ren asked. "Kirito's house got mobbed with players outside thanks to you."

"I wonder what they're doing right now." Mai said.

Ren and Alice looked at each other with a knowing grin. Out of the entire guild, Helios and Dagger were the only ones who didn't know where Kirito and Asuna were staying during their leave. They had been sworn to secrecy by the two players.

Of course, it was far more obvious to Dagger than Helios that the rest of her guild knew something.

"Can't you tell me where Kirito is? Please!"

"Not happening Dagger." Ren said with a shake of his head.

"Pretty please!"

"Nope." Alice said.

Dagger continued to beg her friends for even a tiny hint as the time passed by. Unfortunately for her, they had no plans on budging any time soon.

 **A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter and seeing Mai kick some ass again. Now that Blazing Revolution is over, I will start to focus on wrapping up this story. You won't have to wait much longer before this one ends and you can go on to Blazing Revolution. See you all next time, readers.**


	27. Morning Dew Girl

**A/N: Wow, it has been awhile since I updated this story. I really wish I had one main excuse for this, but it was honestly a lot of little things bunched together. First of all, this chapter deals with something that happened in the anime itself, and I already wrote out this chapter in the original so I wanted to make it feel a little new. Then I had writer's block over how to do that and I just sorta put this fic to the side. But it is finally done. To make up for the long wait time though, this chapter is especially long. I hope this makes it worth the wait.**

 **Small warning, the first part of this chapter is basically a rewrite from the original, but most of it involves brand new stuff. Please bear with the rewrite part, as it is necessary for the chapter's plot.**

The town of Coral on Floor 22 was nice and serene. There was a refreshing breeze in the air. Trees sprouted up, containing the woods that were home to several types of harmless non-combat creatures as long as you stayed within the borders of the town. Several lakes were near the town, all perfect spots for fishing.

Ren and Alice walked together through the pathways of the town. It was a nice change of pace from all the busy city-like areas on the upper floors. The two members of Wyverns Inferno were on their way to visit Kirito and Asuna, and personally congratulate them on their marriage. Their hands had been full up until now dealing with the goblin event for the past week. Now was a perfect opportunity to drop in and say hello.

"It'll be nice to see Kirito and Asuna again." Alice said. "It must be nice to be able to live on a floor this nice and peaceful."

"Yeah, but I bet they don't have much cash left after buying a place here." Ren pointed out. "Houses in places like this are crazy expensive."

"Leave it to two of the top players in the game to be able to have that much col." Alice giggled.

After a few minutes, the couple could finally see Kirito and Asuna's home. Ren and Alice walked up and knocked on the front door. It was a few moments before the door opened with Asuna standing on the other side. Her eyes widened at the sight of her friends. "Ren, Alice! It's nice to see you!"

"Nice to see you too, Asuna." Alice said, giving her friend a hug. "I know it's a little late, but congratulations on your marriage."

"Aw you guys. You didn't have to come all the way out here for that."

"Well it's not like you're going to have a wedding or anything." Ren said with a small grin. "Can't have all your fanboys trying to kill Kirito after all."

Asuna gave a semi-mocking pout to Ren. "Well hopefully it'll stay that way. Unless Dagger's with you that is."

"Don't worry. We made sure she didn't follow us." Ren assured her.

Asuna motioned for the two of them to follow her. "Come on inside you two. I can show you the house."

Ren and Alice followed their friend into the house. The inside had a simplistic, yet comforting feel to it that gave the place a feeling of warmth. As they entered the living room, the couple saw Kirito sitting on a couch. Ren waved over to his friend. "Hey Kirito, what's-"

"Shh, not so loud Ren." Kirito said in a hushed tone. "You'll wake her."

"Her?" Alice questioned. She looked at the other couch in the room and widened her eyes at what she saw. There was a little girl fast asleep. She had long black hair and a plain white dress on.

"Who's she?" Alice asked. Suddenly a thought entered her mind and she gasped. "No way! Did you two…"

Asuna feverishly shook her head in response to Alice's implication. "No! It's not what you think, I swear! We just found her passed out in the woods, so we brought her here. When she woke up, she couldn't remember anything. So we're taking care of her for now."

"Oh." Alice realized. "For a second I thought you found a way to… well you know."

"Hang on." Ren said. "You said she couldn't remember anything? She has amnesia?"

"It appears so." Asuna nodded. "We were planning on taking her to the Town of Beginnings later to see if she remembers anything."

"We can go with you if you want." Ren offered. "The Town of Beginnings is a big place after all."

Asuna shook her head. "No, we can't trouble you guys like that."

"It's no trouble at all." Alice assured her. "Besides, we could use a day or two off from the front lines after that goblin event."

"I heard about that." Kirito mentioned. "Word is, things got pretty dicey and a few players almost got killed."

"A few players did die from the event." Ren nodded. "But we managed to prevent a large mass of them from dying as well."

Kirito and Asuna lowered their heads. "We're sorry. If only we were there to help, then-"

"Don't even try blaming yourselves. You two earned some time off. Besides, we can't always rely on you two and Heathcliff to carry us."

It wasn't much, but the reassuring words did make the couple feel a bit better. Asuna looked at the two of them. "Are you sure it won't be any trouble for you guys to help?"

"Positive. It's not like the boss room's been discovered yet or anything." Ren said. "We'll get the guild together and ask around the town for a bit. You can join us once Yui wakes up."

Asuna smiled at her two friends. "Thanks you guys. We really appreciate this."

"Don't mention it." Ren said as he and Alice turned to leave. "See you soon."

After they left, Ren messaged the rest of the guild and gave them a brief rundown of the situation. He told them to meet at the teleport gate to the Town of Beginnings in one hour. The rest of Wyvern's Inferno all responded, saying they'd be there, though Dagger added in a small hint of annoyance in her message that they knew where Kirito and Asuna were staying at and wouldn't tell them.

As they walked to the teleport gate, Ren glanced over at Alice. "You seemed pretty disappointed when you found out Yui wasn't actually their kid."

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. I guess I thought it'd be nice. You know. Having a kid and all. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Well sure, eventually." Ren nodded. "But we're way too young for something like that. Heck, we're not even out of high school."

"Fair point." Alice giggled. "Though imagine if the system actually had a way to give kids to married couples. I can think of a few couples that I wouldn't want to see taking care of their own child."

"You mean like Helios and Dagger?" Ren asked with a small grin.

"Well they're one example." Alice replied with a grin of her own.

Ren and Alice continued their walk to the teleport gate. Once they were there, the two of them teleported back to the front lines to kill some time before the meeting time. Eventually the time came and the guild got together on the first floor. All of them were in casual gear instead of their actual armor, though they still had their weapons equipped. The Town of Beginnings was a safe zone, but with the Army running around it was still a dangerous place.

Wyvern's Inferno split up for a bit to search the town for information. Half and hour passed by with none of them turning up any leads. Not long after that, Ren received a message from Asuna telling him Yui was awake and that they'd be at the town soon. Ren then proceeded to inform the rest of his friends to meet again at the teleport gate. When they all arrived back, the group could see Kirito and Asuna waiting for them, along with Yui.

"Aw, she's so cute!" Mai squealed. Yui nervously ran behind Asuna and hid behind her mother's legs.

"Mai, come on. You'll scare her if you act like that." Alice told her. She kneeled down and showed a soft smile to the new girl. "Hello Yui. I'm Alice. It's nice to meet you."

Yui slowly peeked her head out from behind Asuna and walked up to Alice. "Hello."

One by one, the guild of Wyvern's Inferno introduced themselves to Yui. Afterwards, Kirito and Asuna asked them if they had found out anything. Unfortunately, no clues as to the whereabouts of Yui's family had been found by the group.

"There is one place that might know actually." Dagger spoke up. "There's a church in town owned by a woman who takes care of little kids who don't have any family in the game with them. Maybe she came from there."

"It's worth a shot. We'll check it out." Kirito said. He and Asuna went over towards the church that Dagger had directed them towards while the rest of the guild all continued to search on their own.

The rest of the day, Ren and the others searched, but couldn't find any information of players looking for a girl that matched Yui's description. On the bright side, Kirito and Asuna had said that they had found the woman owning the church Dagger mentioned, though they had an altercation with the Army. They were meeting up again tomorrow at the church, so the guild decided to call it a day for themselves as well.

* * *

 _-The next day-_

When Ren and the others had heard that the church was a home for younger players that didn't log in with their families, they had expected quite a number of kids to be there. But the sheer number far exceeded what any of them had thought there'd be.

"Wow…" Alice said. "There sure are a lot of them."

"I know right? It's like this almost everyday." the woman running the church said. Her name was Sasha and she seemed to be in her early twenties based on the look of her. "I go around often, seeing if there's any kids in need of help around town."

"That must be quite difficult for just you." Asuna said. "And then there's the Army to deal with too."

Sasha nodded her head. "It's true that the Army players do make life tough sometimes. Taxes these days have begun to go up."

"Seriously, who does that Kibao guy think he is? Extorting taxes on players." Helios said with a huff.

"Not much we can do about it though." Ren sighed. "The Aincrad Liberation Army is a huge guild. The front lines are the only ones with enough power to stop them. But we're already stretched thin with the players we have. We don't have time to get into a political dispute. But back to the matter at hand."

"Back to the matter at hand though." Kirito said, looking back at Sasha. "We were wondering if you recognize Yui here? Does she look familiar to you?"

Sasha shook her head. "No, I'm afraid. I've never seen her before in the Town of Beginnings."

"So we're back to square one then." Dagger sighed.

Suddenly, a knock at the door was heard. Curious as to who it was, the group went to answer the door. When they opened it, they were surprised to find an Army member at the door. Her equipment made her seem higher ranking than the regular soldiers patrolling the streets. "Hello, I'm Yulier. Second in command of the Aincrad Liberation Army."

"I hope you're not here to complain about what happened yesterday." Asuna said. "Your men were acting way out of line."

Yulier shook her head. "Of course not. You did right by setting those men in their place. Actually, I came here to ask for your help."

The group all stared at each other skeptically. The Army wasn't a strong guild compared to those on the front lines, but they tended to keep to themselves as the main force on Floor 1. Asking outsiders for help was out of character for them. But if this player really was asking for their help, it meant something serious must have happened.

"Alright. We'll hear you out." Asuna told Yulier. "Come inside."

"Thank you." Yulier said with her head bowed down. "I truly appreciate this."

The group all went into the church and sat down in a private room away from the children. Yulier had her head lowered, staring at the cup of tea that Sasha had prepared for them. "I suppose I should start by apologizing for the actions of the Army. When our leader Thinker first started it, he never planned for it to become the dictatorial organization it has become."

"But the guild grew too large to control, didn't it?" Ren guessed.

Yulier answered with a nod of her head. "Yes. And after much infighting, one man became very powerful. A player named Kibao."

"Goddamnit." Helios groaned. "Not that idiot again."

"Kibao amassed a large follow of members within the Army, and they've been bullying players within the Town of Beginnings. They take money and items, under the pretense of collecting taxes. Over time, he seemed to stop caring about clearing the game, which made a lot of people angry. To deal with this, he sent his highest level team of players to the front lines to deal with the latest Floor boss."

Alice gasped as she heard this. "Then… Corvatz and his team were…"

"Yes." Yulier confirmed. "They went there under his orders. After spearheading that massacre, Kibao lost a lot of standing, and serious consideration was being put into kicking him out of the guild. When Kibao caught word of this, he set a trap for Thinker." Yulier's expression darkened. "Thinker's been stranded in a dungeon for the past three days."

Ren and the others gasped in shock. "Does he have any items? Teleport crystals? Anything?" Asuna asked.

Yulier shook her head. "Kibao said he wanted to talk with Thinker. He believed him, so he didn't bring much with him. I'd go rescue him myself, but my level isn't high enough to reach him. And Kibao is using his influence to keep the rest of the guild from helping me." She lifted her head and looked at the group. "But then I heard that some of the most powerful players anyone had ever seen were here on this floor, I knew I had to take this chance. Please, I need your help."

The group all stared at each other. After a bit of deliberation, they decided to help. But at the same time, they couldn't dismiss the chance that this was a trap to lure them away. Ren, Kirito, and Asuna all ended up going with Yulier into the dungeon where Thinker was supposedly trapped. Yui had ended up throwing a fit, resulting in her tagging along with them. The rest of Wyvern's Inferno all stayed behind to look after the church while they were gone. After wishing them luck, Alice and her friends all watched Ren, Kirito, Asuna, and Yui go with Yulier towards the dungeon.

Staying at the Town of Beginnings was a bit of a boring task to be assigned with, but Alice and the others knew it was necessary. But it didn't take long for them to be woefully bored. Alice was in the kitchen with Sasha, helping her do the dishes. That left the others to simply wait around for Ren and the others to return.

"Ugh, this is so boring." Helios groaned. "I almost want those Army guys to try and pull something just so I can knock some heads in."

"Really Helios?" Riku complained. "We're trying to prevent any incidents from happening."

"Hey, at least it would alleviate the boredom."

Mai got out of her seat and stretched her arms out. "Well, I'm gonna go for a walk. See you guys later."

"Oh no, you're not ditching us that easily." Helios said. "If I have to stay here twiddling my thumbs, then so do you squirt."

"Think of it as doubling as a patrol for any suspicious Army guys roaming around." Mai said. "Kay then, see you guys later, bye!"

Before any of her guildmates could say anything, Mai rushed out of the room and out of the church. She sprinted down the streets until she felt she was far enough away from the church. She knew that Ren had ordered them to stay at the church, but with everything that was going on, she couldn't sit still. The Army had gotten away with too much, and if there was one thing Mai hated it was a big group bullying people weaker than them.

Mai wasn't stupid though. She knew that storming the Army's base and demanding for them to stop would be an effort in futility. But there was one thing she did know she could do. Kibao and his faction had thought right now that Thinker was dealt with. That meant they would have their guard down. And that gave Mai the perfect opportunity to find where they were keeping players.

She recalled Selena explaining what had happened to Izaki and his friend Rio. Rio had been taken prisoner by the Army and was most likely being held somewhere. And if she was taken, then who else could have suffered the same fate. Mai knew she had to free them. She could sneak into their HQ and bust them out.

' _I can't involve the others.'_ Mai thought to herself. ' _I don't want them getting into trouble because of me.'_ The young girl opened her menu and equipped a cloak to conceal her identity. ' _Now I just gotta figure out where the Army's HQ is in town.'_

Suddenly a voice came up from behind Mai. "You should lose the cloak look, Mai. It doesn't suit you."

Mai gasped as she turned around, seeing Dagger standing next to her with a knowing grin. "H-Hey Dagger… I was just-"

"Just trying to do something stupid. I could see through your ruse a mile away kid." Dagger said with narrow eyes. "Spill it Mai. What are you planning?"

Mai sighed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hide her mission from the merchant. "I've heard that the Army is holding some players captive. I want to free them."

"So you just thought that you'd sneak in all by yourself in a place that's probably swarming with guards and be able to get everyone out easy peasy? Even if you could find where they are, how is little you supposed to get them out of that building without being caught?"

Mai lowered her head. Dagger had a point. She really hadn't thought this through. "Well…"

"That said, if you had someone who was say… a master of stealth and cheating, you might actually have a chance."

Mai widened her eyes as she looked up at Dagger, who was showing her a grin. "You mean you'll help me?"

"Well I can't have Alice going beserk if I let something happen to you." Dagger said. A smirk came to her face "Besides, I'm interested in what kind of rare trinkets those Army guys have stored away in their guild building."

Mai sighed. Of course money had something to do with this. "Alright then. Let's do it."

* * *

It seemed a little odd to Mai that Dagger knew exactly where the Aincrad Liberation Army's guild hall was. She questioned herself over whether Dagger had any plans to break into the place already, or worse, if she already had in the past. The red haired merchant knew of a very convenient window in the side of the building, where they wouldn't be spotted sneaking in from the outside.

There was just one problem for Mai. The huge open gap between the roof they were currently standing on, and the open window they had to get to.

"Are you sure this is safe, Dagger?" Mai asked.

"Well think of it this way. We're in a safe zone, so even if we fall, we won't lose any HP."

' _Yeah, but even in SAO, a two story fall is going to hurt like hell.'_ Mai thought to herself. ' _Not to mention the noise it'll make will almost surely get us caught.'_

"Don't worry Mai. It's not as hard as it looks." Dagger assured her. "I'll show you, watch." Dagger took a few steps back before running at full speed and leaping off the side of the roof. Mai watched as Dagger skillfully dived in through the opening to the building from the window. The red haired merchant stuck her head out of the window and waved over to Mai. "Alright, your turn."

Mai gulped as she nodded her head. Dagger had made this look easy, but she was also a lot more athletic than her with her skills of stealth. Mai took a deep breath as she went over to the other end of the roof. ' _Here goes nothing.'_

Going immediately into a full on sprint, Mai ran across the roof and jumped off just as Dagger had. She felt herself fly through the air as she came closer to the window. Her eyes widened when she realized that she wasn't going to make it. She closed her eyes and braced for the impact on the cold stone wall of the building.

"Gotcha!" Dagger said, reaching out and grabbing Mai's arm. Mai opened her eyes and gasped as she looked up at Dagger leaning out of the window, holding on tight to her guildmate. The red haired merchant slowly managed to pull her up and through the window. Both girls took a moment to catch their breath once they were inside.

Dagger grinned at Mai. "See? Told ya it was easy."

Mai moaned as she recovered from the terrifying experience. "Please tell me you have a different way for us getting out. I doubt I have another one of those left in me, and I don't think the others we're rescuing are gonna be as lucky as I was there."

"Don't worry." Dagger told her. "There's a back door to the building that isn't as heavily guarded as the front entrance. It can only be opened from the outside if you're a member of the guild, but since we'll be opening it from the inside, there shouldn't be any problems."

"And you know about this how exactly?" Mai asked.

"Let's just say girls like me like places that don't have as high security as they should."

Mai let out a sigh, but she couldn't deny that Dagger had been making this mission a lot easier. "Ok then. Any idea where the players are being held?"

Dagger brought her hand to her chin as she thought. "The players they capture tend to be low leveled. And this place doesn't exactly come equipped with a dungeon. But they need a place that's far from any exits while giving their prisoners they basic commodities they would need." Dagger snapped her fingers as the answer came to her. "That's it! The barracks! Every guild hall has some rooms for their members to stay the night. I bet they've got them stashed away in the deepest area of the barracks there."

"Ok, so where is that?"

"The barracks are most likely located at a certain corner of the building." Dagger explained. "Since this is the first floor of Aincrad, I'm guessing it's just one giant room consisting of a large amount of beds."

"Wait, but won't there be Army members there too? Why would they sleep in the same room as the players they're holding prisoner?"

"They probably aren't. Inn prices are cheap here, so they can afford to just have their members sleep there since they get so much money from taxes."

"Ok then, so we just need to find the barracks." Mai said.

"Wrong. YOU need to find the barracks." Dagger said as she turned away from Mai and walked down the hall. "Once you find the players, meet me at that back door I told you about. It's on the first floor, northwest corner of the building."

Mai was stunned into silence as she watched Dagger walk away. "Wait, so you're just ditching me?! I thought you were supposed to be helping me?!"

"I am helping you, kid." Dagger said as she turned her head and gave Mai a wink. "I'll be providing the distraction. While lining my pockets at the same time."

Dagger didn't even give Mai a chance to ask what she meant by that as she turned a corner and disappeared. Left with no other options but to find the prisoners based on Dagger's advice, Mai ran down the other end of the hall to find the barracks.

* * *

Dagger cautiously made her way through the halls of the Aincrad Liberation Army's guild headquarters. Even if the guild was full of weak players that she could take easily, there were far too many of them for her to take on if they all swarmed her. She just needed to find what she was looking for, and then cause enough noise for Mai to get an opening to free the players being kept here.

' _Where is it?'_ Dagger asked herself. ' _Where would they keep it?'_ She peeked her head around a corner, noticing a secure looking door with two Army members standing guard. ' _That looks promising.'_

Opening her menu, Dagger brought out two bottles with a dark blue liquid in them. She came out from behind the corner, wearing her infamous innocent smile. "Hey boys. Working hard or hardly working?"

The second they saw Dagger, the two guards instinctively reached for their weapons. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Woah, easy there boys." Dagger told them. "I'm the new maid here. I was told to bring you guys some drinks to have while you work."

The two of them looked at each other skeptically. "We weren't told anything about this."

"Look, do you want the drinks or not? I've got a lot of runs to make to all of the guards." Dagger waited a few seconds before shrugging and turning around. "Fine then. Your loss."

"Wait! We'll take them."

Dagger grinned to herself before turning around with her fake smile back on her face. "Good. I hope you like them."

The two guards took a sip of the drink Dagger had given them. The drink had a nice taste to it. But it was too late for them when they realized the side effect. Their bodies stiffened up out of nowhere and they collapsed onto the ground.

"Wh-What the hell?" one of them gasped. "What did you do to us?"

Dagger giggled as she walked up to one of them and took the key to the door from his belt. "Paralysis potion. Never leave home without it."

"But how? We're in a safe zone."

"The safe zone prevents your HP from going down. It doesn't prevent status effects." Dagger told them. "Don't worry. I have no intention of killing you or anything. I'm just after what's behind there."

"Well good luck! You need a key to get in there and it's tucked away safely in my item storage."

Dagger giggled to herself as she walked up to the door. "A key? Only an amateur needs keys." She opened her item storage and brought out a small thin metal object. "Aincrad has a ton of skills in it. Did you know lockpicking happens to be one of them?"

The two guards widened their eyes. It only took about a minute for Dagger to get through the lock to the door. In town locks were always so much harder to pick compared to dungeon ones. It was the game's attempt at making it difficult for players to steal from any storage items guilds had in their halls. But it was still possible to deal with them if your lockpicking skill was high enough.

Once Dagger had the door opened, she walked into the room. Standing alone in there was a fancy decorative treasure chest, a special storage for guilds to keep their most valuable possessions, and the majority of their money shared among the guild. The red haired girl tapped on the chest, and it opened, making a window pop up in front of her with a list of all of the items inside, as well as the col stored in it.

"Ugh, these are the best drops they have?" Dagger groaned. "Oh well. I'll at least help myself to a few hundred thousand col since I'm here."

"Help! Intruder!" one of the guards outside the room yelled.

Dagger rolled her eyes. It seemed she'd have to make this quick. She moved a total of 300,000 col form the chest to her inventory before closing the window. As she ran out the door, Army soldiers were already appearing to intercept her.

"Stop right there, girlie!" one of the soldiers glared, pulling out his weapon. "Don't make this difficult for yourself."

"Oh don't worry. Escaping you guys won't be difficult in the slightest." Dagger grinned. She sped at him and jumped up, proceeding to kick off from his head and leaping over the crowd of Army members there. "A girl always has an escape plan. See you later, boys."

"GET HER!" he yelled. The Army soldiers all roared in anger as they chased after Dagger while she quickly sped away from them.

* * *

Mai didn't know what Dagger did for her distraction, but the way they were rushing around yelling 'Find the intruder' told her one thing very clearly. They were pissed. Fairly often, Mai had to hide herself while an Army member rushed past her in search of Dagger.

For the past ten minutes, Mai had been cautiously making her way around the first floor of the guild headquarters. If Dagger was right, then the barracks would be on this floor most likely.

As Mai peered her head around a corner, she saw a room being guarded by a lone Army soldier. If he wasn't searching the building looking for Dagger, he had to be guarding something important. Like a prison room perhaps.

' _I can't afford to waste time. Who knows how long Dagger will be able to keep these Army goons busy.'_

Rushing around the corner, Mai pulled out her rapier. She didn't even give her opponent the chance to pull out his own weapon as she activated a sword skill and thrusted her blade forward, sending him flying back and crashing into the wall. He groaned as the blow made him lose consciousness.

With the guard dealt with, Mai kicked open the door he was guarding. As she entered, she saw a wide room. Beds upon beds were lined up together along the walls. And there were several players inside that didn't look like they were members of the guild. It was the barracks.

"Who are you?" one of the players asked.

"No time for that. You guys are the players the Army is holding prisoner, right?" Mai asked. The group of players all nodded their heads. "I'm here to break you out. Let's go."

"But what about the Army?"

"My friend's keeping them busy, now let's hurry." Mai said. She turned around to leave, but gasped as she saw two Army members standing at the door.

The two players glared down at Mai. "Well, well, looks like we found our intruder."

Mai held her rapier in a tight grasp as she got into a fighting stance. The two Army members chuckled at her show of defiance, but neither they nor Mai expected a pair of arms to come from behind and bash the heads of the two Army members together, knocking them both out.

Mai had thought Dagger had luckily shown up to save her, but widened her eyes in surprise when she saw the person behind the two Army members as they fell over to reveal who she was.

"Alice?!" Mai gasped.

Alice looked at her sister with a fierce glare as she placed her hands on her hips. "Mai, of all the stupid irresponsible things for you to do! Do you have any idea how worried I was when I checked your location and found you were here?!"

"I'm sorry, sis." Mai said with her head lowered. "But I couldn't just leave these guys to have those bullies do whatever they wanted with them."

Alice sighed as she looked at her sister. "We'll talk about this later. Right now, we need to get out of here. Please tell me you have an escape plan that doesn't involve us fighting our way out the front gate."

"There's a backdoor we can get out of. Dagger's meeting us there." Mai explained.

"Good, then let's hurry up and go."

"Right." Mai nodded. As she was about to lead the way, she stopped. "Oh that's right!" She looked at the group of captured players. "Is there anyone here named Rio?"

The players all looked downwards as their expressions darkened. Mai thought the worst. Rio couldn't be dead. Izaki had told her that her name wasn't crossed out on the stone in the Black Iron Palace. "She's alive… right…?"

"A couple of Army members took her a few hours ago." one of the players said. "It was her turn this time."

"Her turn? What does that mean?" Alice asked.

One of the girls explained. "Every now and then, some Army members come and drag one of the girls here away for a bit. They take us to a secluded room and…" she shivered in disgust as she thought about it. "They _examine_ us."

Alice and Mai gasped at the implication behind the girl's words. Alice was especially disgusted at the actions of the guild members. "How can they even do that? The Sexual Harassment Code should prevent players from doing stuff like that as long as the Ethic Code isn't turned off."

"They have a way around that." she explained. "They don't touch us, but they make us remove our equipment, down to the bare minimum. If we don't, they hurt all of the other prisoners as a result." She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered as tears formed in her eyes. "They stare at us like we're some kind of trophy! It's humiliating!"

Alice was baffled by this knowledge. A fierce glare burned in her eyes. "Where is this room?"

"Right upstairs. Just take the stairs down the hall. First room on the left."

Alice nodded her head as she looked at her sister. "Mai, get everyone to the exit you mentioned."

"But what about you?" Mai asked.

Alice walked out of the room with her fists clenched tightly. "I'm going to _examine_ what happens when my fist comes into contact with the faces of some perverts."

* * *

As Alice reached the second floor, she made her way to the room that the one girl had mentioned. She couldn't afford to take too long so Alice decided to be upfront with her entry.

With a swift powerful kick, Alice swung open the door to the room. As she walked in, the sight of what was going on only fueled Alice's anger. Three Army members were standing around, while a teenage girl stood at the other room. She had long brunette hair and deep blue eyes. A red blush was on her face, mostly due to the fact that she was only dressed in her underwear and bra.

This was all Alice needed to see in order to tip her over the edge.

The three Army members all turned to Alice, surprised by the new appearance. One of them got up from his seat and walked up to Alice. "You better explain what you're doing here babe, unless you want to do a double show with this girl here." He showed a cocky smirk at her. "Better yet, for a beauty like you we might actually pay to see-"

He did not get to finish talking, nor would he be talking again for awhile as Alice sent a deadly punch his way, sending him flying back. The nearly naked girl moved out of the way to avoid being hit by the player as he zoomed past her and crashed into the wall.

Alice gave the other two members a deadly glare as she cracked her knuckles. "So, who wants to get their head bashed in next?"

Alice didn't know if there were any Army members outside the room to hear the screams of terror and pain coming from the players she was pummeling and frankly she didn't care. But by the end of it, the three Army members could only wish Alice's next hit sent them flying out the window so their suffering could finally end.

With three unconscious Army members lying defeated on the ground, Alice looked over at the girl, still on the verge of nudity. "Are you Rio?"

The girl nodded her head. "Y-Yes. Who are you?"

Alice showed her a reassuring smile. "Relax, I'm here to help you escape. We're busting you out."

"But what about the others? They'll be punished if the Army finds out I escaped."

"Don't worry. They're escaping as we speak." Alice told her. "Put your equipment back on. You're not some sideshow attraction for these scum anymore."

Rio nodded her head and proceeded to requip her clothing back on. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Now let's get moving." Alice said as she and Rio ran out of the room and towards the exit Mai had told her about.

* * *

Mai ran with the group of players she had rescued. Luckily, they hadn't run into any guards yet. Finally the end was in sight as Mai saw the door Dagger had mentioned. The guards must have been busy chasing Dagger because there was no one there.

"There's the exit!" Mai said, pointing as they ran. Cheers erupted through the players.

"Finally! We're home free!"

"We can see our friends again!"

"Goodbye hell hole, hello freedom!"

A smile came to Mai's face as she burst out of the door. That smile quickly faded however when she saw a squad of seven Army members waiting for them outside, with one guy at the center that seemed to be a higher ranking member.

"So you're the intruder everyone's raising a fuss about, huh?" he said. "You made a big mistake crossing the Aincrad Liberation Army, little girl. Let's see how you fare against me, Lieutenant Radcliff!"

"Hey dumbasses! Look out below!" a sudden voice yelled. Radcliff only had a moment to look up before Dagger's boot smashed into his face. She jumped off from him and landed near Mai and the others. "Hey Mai, sorry I'm late."

"Dagger, what exactly did you do to make the Army this pissed off?" Mai asked.

Dagger shrugged her shoulders. "All I'm saying is that they shouldn't be mad at me if they leave their guild storage chest severely unguarded. That's their problem."

The two girls had their talk cut short as the remaining six guards cornered them against the side of the building, slowly moving in. "You're not getting out of here. Now give up and surrender peacefully."

"I've got a better idea." a new voice said. All heads turned as Alice walked out of the back door with Rio at her side. "Get out of our way or you'll end up like the last three members I knocked out."

The guards made no signs of backing down. Both sides glared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. To everyone's surprise though, Dagger pulled out a round ball from her belt. She threw it at the ground and it exploded, creating a cloud of thick black smoke.

"Dagger?! Where did you get a smokebomb?!"

"No time for that! Run!" Dagger yelled. She ran in one direction, knocking out the Army member she saw. The others ran in the same direction as her as they followed her voice.

When the smoke finally cleared, the Army members looked around, dazed and confused. Radcliff growled in anger as he shouted at his men. "Find them! Search the city!"

* * *

Helios looked out the church window, watching another patrol of Army soldiers run by. They were desperate to find the players they were searching for, that much was evident. The axe-wielder closed the curtain and walked back into the dining hall. Mai, Alice, and Dagger, along with about fifteen or so new players were all sitting at a table.

"So let me get this straight. You guys broke into Army HQ, looted their storage, and broke all these players out of their makeshift prison?"

"Look Helios, I know it was dumb but-"

"Why didn't you invite me?!" The girls could clearly agree that it wasn't the words they were expecting to come out of Helios. "I would have loved a chance to embarrass those losers! Why didn't you let me have any fun?"

"Because we were trying to make this a STEALTH mission!" Mai told him. "If we brought you along, you would have given us away just to pick a fight or two!"

"And?! We still would have gotten out of there."

Alice groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Helios I don't think you really get the situation-"

"What else is new." Riku said from the side, a comment that simply caused Helios to flip him off.

"-But we are really not in the best situation right now. It'll be a long time before the Army patrols die down and right now we need to find a way to get all of these players out of here before they show up and drag them away, or hide them until Ren and the others get back with Thinker."

Alice and the others discussed a plan over how to get the rescued players safely out of the town without getting spotted by the Army. Over at the other table, Mai was talking with Rio. The two girls were talking about Izaki, who Rio was surprised to hear that Mai was acquainted with.

"So how did you and Izaki meet each other?" Rio asked.

"Long story." Mai said. "We were both captured by goblins during this event that happened recently. The two of us were locked in a cell, along with a bunch of other players."

Rio gasped as she heard this. "Captured by goblins?! Is Izaki alright?!"

"Oh don't worry, he's fine." Mai assured her. "He's an annoying jerk sometimes though. How are you friends with a guy like that?"

To Mai's surprise, Rio giggled at her. "Izaki's always had a rough exterior. But he's actually a pretty nice guy once you get to know him."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I doubt that."

"Do you know where he is? I want to let him know I'm ok."

Mai nodded and was about to send a message to him, but then she got an idea. She smiled at Rio. "Why not tell him yourself?"

* * *

It had been a few days since Izaki and Selena had heard from Mai ever since she pretty much saved their hides from becoming goblin chow. Once all of the captured people were saved they all went back to whatever groups they belonged to and didn't really speak to each other much. So needless to say it came as quite the surprise when Izaki got a message from Selena, who had exchanged contact info with Mai, telling him and her to come meet the rapier user in the Town of Beginnings near the church. Despite his need for more info regarding the sudden call, Selena couldn't give any sort of answer as to why Mai called them out of the blue like this. So, thoroughly irritated and not in the mood to deal with any bullcrap, Izaki decided to meet up with Selena and Mai on the first floor to get it over with.

Moving past the low leveled players and knocking away a few Army members who tried to act smart, he finally made his way to the church where Selena and Mai along with the other members of Wyvern's Inferno who he didn't really recognize were standing and talking. "Alright kid, I'm here. Now what was so damn important that you needed to call the both of us out here?"

Mai looked to Izaki and seeing the irritated look on his face decided to cut straight to the point. "Alright Alice, you can bring her out now."

The scythe user nodded her head and moved to the side of the church. After a few seconds a person came out along with the scythe wielder which made both Izaki's eyes bulge out in shock. Standing in front of him was a friend that he thought he may have lost forever. Rio stood in front of her friend with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

Words were not needed from either Izaki nor Rio as both players simply ran up to each other and embraced tightly. "R-Rio! I… I'm so happy you're okay!" Izaki managed to hiccup through his tears of joy.

Rio held her friend tightly in her arms and leaned closer to his chest in comfort. "It's okay Izaki. I'm just glad to hear you're still safe."

Both Selena and the members of Wyvern's Inferno smiled at the sweet reunion those two were having. After all that the trio of players had been through, some happiness was very much well deserved.

"Halt! Stay right where you are!"

Sadly the reunion was cut short on the happiness factor when that sudden shout ruined the good mood. All eyes turned to the front way of the church to see numerous Army players walking towards the group of players with the king of douchebaggery himself, Kibao leading the charge.

The spiky haired player gave a passing look at all of the scum in front of him, all of them giving equally dirty looks. "You lot of criminals have a lot of explaining to do. We apprehended this girl for failure to comply with the Army's demands and detained her as a criminal. So why did you all go to our HQ to break a guilty prisoner out of jail, as well as several other prisoners?"

"The only criminal here is you, jerk!" Mai yelled. "The only thing Rio did was stand up to you for bullying the players here!"

"Silence! Frankly I don't care what your reason is because I am charging you all with treason against the Army and will not only be taking the girl back, but you all as well." Kibao said as he reached for his sword.

Izaki pushed Rio back to move with the others as he drew his sword against the Army leader. "Over my dead body, you corrupt piece of shit!"

"Ha! Look at this little gay shell of a false man acting so tough." Helios remarked. "Thinking just cause he tricked the real guy in charge that he can run things better. Well I'll give credit where it's due, you managed to run the Army's reputation into the gutter and make yourself out to look like an ass clown." He gave a thumbs up to the seething Army leader. "Good job Kibao! You've gone from screw up that I nearly threw off a cliff to a den of monsters to a circus ringleader! I'm very proud of you!"

A cruel snarl came to Kibao's lips at Izaki's defiance and Helios's insult. There was no way he was going to take this disrespect lying down. "Fine then you idiots! It's your funeral after all! Men, charge and apprehend all of these criminals in the name of the Army! This will teach you runts not to go against the law around here!"

The group of Army members standing alongside Kibao all drew their weapons at his command. Wyvern's Inferno all reached for their own weapons as well, ready to fight against the large guild.

But a sudden voice broke up the fight before it could begin. "All members of the Army! Cease and ignore all orders coming from the traitor Kibao!"

All of the Army members stopped before they even started charging to clear way for the familiar voice. Kibao turned around in a nervous sweat to see Thinker, alive and well accompanied by Kirito, Asuna, Yulier, and Ren. All of them looking quite pissed off with what was happening right now. ' _How the hell did this guy manage to escape that dungeon!? He should be dead!'_

Thinker moved past the Army members with Yulier at his side giving the death glare to anyone foolish enough to try and approach the leader. "Kibao, effective immediately, I am terminating your position in the Aincrad Liberation Army and banishing you from this floor as well as any member of the Army who would be foolish enough to continue this dictatorial behavior."

"I don't think so Thinker! I don't know how you managed to escape that dungeon but I make the rules now! I'm the law around here and everyone knows it." The false guild leader brought out his weapon and pointed it at the man in front of him. "You and me, right now! If you think you have the brass to take back that title go right ahead! But don't start crying when I drag your ass up and down the floor like the loser you are Thinker!"

Thinker moved his hand up to open his menu with no hesitation. He wasn't much of a fighter, but if beating this degenerate was what it took to restore order to the Army, he was more than happy to do it. However Ren had something else in mind as he stopped the true leader from opening his menu. "You and Yulier have already been through enough from Kibao's actions. Rest and let me take care of this clown for you."

Much as he wanted to deny Ren's claims, Thinker knew that he and his right hand were exhausted from the events of today. "Very well then. I shall allow you to take this fight in my stead."

"Don't worry." Drawing out his blade, Ren gave a cold look to the baffled Kibao. "It'll only take a minute."

Kibao scoffed as he watched Ren step forward. "What's this? Looks like Thinker doesn't have the balls to fight."

"Shut up and draw your sword." Ren said, sending a duel request to Kibao. "Unless of course you're the one that doesn't have any balls."

Kibao growled as he hit the 'Yes' tab and pulled his sword out of its sheath. "Fine. I'll be more than happy to knock you off your high horse, big shot."

The timer counted down as Ren and Kibao stood across from each other. Everyone watched in silence as the two players stared each other down. Finally the timer hit zero and the duel began. Kibao instantly went on the offensive and charged at Ren, raising his sword up for a vertical slash and activating a sword skill. As he slashed down, his eyes widened as Ren suddenly vanished like a blur. His sword swing hit nothing but the air around him, and Kibao suddenly felt a sense of danger directly behind him. He turned his head around as Ren raised his sword to attack. The skill ripped through Kibao's avatar and sent him flying back and tumbling across the ground.

The Army members allied with Kibao all gasped in shock, seeing their self proclaimed leader laying on the ground. Kibao sat back up, only to find Ren's blade pointed inches from his neck. "You lose Kibao. Now beat it."

Kibao watched as Ren turned around and walked away. He growled in anger, having his pride shattered so easily. He wasn't going to give up this easily. He gripped his sword and charged at Ren while the tactician's back was to him.

"Ren! Look out!" Mai warned.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down, dumbass!" Kibao grinned as he swung his blade. He gasped in shock though as he watched Ren dodge the attack easily, this time jumping with a backflip over Kibao. Fear overtook him, knowing what was going to follow. With one swift slash, Ren cut through Kibao's avatar. The attack brought Kibao's health into the yellow and ended the duel for officially this time.

"Damnit." Kibao grunted as he laid defeated on the ground. The rescued players, as well as the kids inside the church, all cheered for Ren's victory as the tactician sheathed his blade.

Thinker walked over to Ren. "Thank you for your assistance. I can't thank you enough for what you've done for us."

Ren shook his head. "It was nothing. If you want to thank us, help the Army do what it was originally created to do. Help the players of this town."

Thinker nodded his head. "I'll be sure to do that."

After saying goodbye, Thinker and Yulier left the church along with the members of their guild. When Ren heard the explanation from his guild as to what happened, he was quite surprised to hear of the adventure that had gone on in his absence.

Alice took notice of the fact that Ren and the others had come back with one person missing. "Hey, where's Yui?"

The expressions of Kirito, Asuna, and Ren all darkened. They went inside and explained to the rest of Wyvern's Inferno of what had happened. Yui had apparently been an AI created by the system running SAO called Cardinal. Not long after this secret had been discovered, Cardinal had tried to delete Yui's data. Kirito had managed to save Yui from being completely deleted at the last minute and turn her into an in-game object. But regardless of that, the fact was that she was gone right now. And it would be a long time before they could see the little girl's smiling face again.

Despite the brave face Asuna and Kirito had, it was obvious that both of them weren't in the greatest of moods right now. They went back to their house on Floor 22 while the rest of Wyvern's Inferno all returned back to their homes.

Alice and gone with Mai to have a talk about her reckless behavior with the prison break. Helios and Dagger headed back to the inn. Riku decided to go have dinner at a restaurant on the upper floors. That left Ren to himself. He headed back to his room, exhausted from today.

Ren laid in his bed for what seemed like forever. Eventually he heard the door to his home open and Alice walked inside. She found her boyfriend in his room and laid in bed next to him.

"How's Mai?" Ren asked.

Alice sighed. "I wanted to scold her for what she did, but at the same time she wasn't really in the wrong." She let out a small chuckle. "It kinda felt like I was a mother slapping their kid on the wrist." The topic of kids made her think back to Yui. "Hey Ren. Do you ever think we'll see Yui again?"

Ren nodded his head. "Yeah, Kirito saved her data to his Nerve Gear. I don't know how they'll recreate her once SAO is all over, but I'm sure he'll find a way."

Alice smiled as she laid next to Ren. "Maybe by the time that happens, we'll have a little one of our own that can be her playmate."

Ren chuckled as he held Alice close to him. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

 **A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait for an update but I hope the length of the chapter made it worth it. I hopefully shouldn't take too long with the next chapter since the semester for college is just about over. Hope to see you all soon.**


	28. The Skull Reaper

**A/N: Guess who's back everyone? It's the first chapter of this story for 2017. I would have gotten this out sooner, but I have been WAY too busy playing Hollow Realization, and loving every minute of it. Enjoy the chapter folks.**

Ren laid on the grass against the tree in his secret spot on Floor 27. The boss room of Floor 75 had been discovered recently and a recon team was sent out to scout out the boss. Among the group of members in the recon team was Riku. His stealth skills made him useful as a scout.

It had been almost a week since everything that had happened with Yui. Kirito and Asuna were still enjoying their vacation, and Ren wanted it to stay that way for now. The two of them had been through enough recently. If anyone deserved a break, it was those two.

With nothing else to do, Ren decided to take a quick nap before the recon team returned. The boss meeting would happen not long after, followed by the actual boss fight itself. If he was going to get a chance to relax, it would be now.

Ren napped on the grass for a little bit longer before he saw a message notification. He sighed as he sat up and opened the message. Just his luck, the recon team had returned. Rin stretched out his arms as he got up and walked off towards Granzam to see what the recon team had to say.

It was a long walk, but when Ren finally arrived at the headquarters for the Knights of the Blood Oath, he noticed something was up. It wasn't much, but a small hint of fear seemed to lurk in the atmosphere. As Ren walked inside, he caught sight of Riku. He ran over to his guild member. "Hey, Riku. How'd the scouting-" Ren stopped talking as he noticed the depressed look on Riku's face. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Riku grimaced as he kept his head down. "Ren… we've got a problem. Half the recon team was wiped out."

"What?!"

"There were twenty of us." Riku explained. "The first ten went into the room first. The rest of us were about to follow, but the doors suddenly closed out of nowhere."

Ren's eyes widened. "What happened to them?"

"... The doors opened five minutes later. We took a peek inside, but there was no sign of them or the boss. The entire place was empty."

In other words, the ten that had gone in first were dead. And Ren knew that if they didn't escape, that meant the boss room was like the one on Floor 74. It was one giant Anti-Crystal Area.

"Heathcliff and the others are waiting in the meeting room." Riku told him. "You should get going."

Ren nodded his head. "Right. I'll see you after the meeting."

Ren walked further into the building and into the meeting room. When he arrived, he noticed several other guild leaders present. The looks on their faces told Ren that they had all heard the news about the recon team too.

"I take it you heard what happened on your way here?" Heathcliff said.

Ren nodded his head. "Yes."

"I'll get straight to the point then. Since we're all here, we can begin." Heathcliff said as he addressed the room. "We currently have no way of assessing the boss without challenging it ourselves. That means if we go into this fight, we'll be going in blind."

"Well we were expecting some sort of twist. This is Floor 75 after all." another guild leader commented.

"Very true." Heathcliff nodded. "We're gathering a group of players from several different guilds to participate in the fight." He looked at Ren. "I trust we can count on you and your guild to join us?"

Ren nodded his head. "Of course."

"We will also be calling back Kirito and Asuna to participate in this raid. Given the circumstances, we need all the skilled players we can get."

As much as Ren wished he could object, he knew he couldn't. Heathcliff was right. For this fight, they'd need all the help they could get. And Kirito and Asuna were two of the best players on the front lines.

"We'll be moving out tomorrow." Heathcliff explained. "Unless anyone has anything else to say, everyone is dismissed."

With the meeting over, Ren and the others walked out of the room. Ren met up with Riku, and it was easy for the guild leader to see how shaken up Riku was about what had happened. Ren told Riku about the boss raid tomorrow, and Riku eagerly agreed. He wanted to avenge the deaths of the ten scouting party members. Ren sent a message to the entire guild, telling them all the details and the time of the raid the next day.

As Ren went to bed, thoughts of the upcoming boss fight nagged at his mind. This was going to be their most dangerous fight yet. Once they went in through those doors, that was it. They'd all have to either win, or die trying. There were no second chances this time. And they had no idea what to expect from this boss. He'd have to come up with a counter strategy for the boss on practically nothing.

' _I'll have to be at the top of my game. We all will.'_ Ren silently thought to himself. ' _Or else we're all dead.'_

* * *

 _-The next day-_

Parties among parties of players stood around in the square of the town on Floor 75. The time to move out for the boss raid was drawing near. Wyvern's Inferno stood with the crowd of players as they each mentally prepared themselves for what was to come.

A flash came from the teleport gate, and Ren looked over to see Kirito and Asuna appear. The couple walked over to the guild.

"What's up you two?" Ren greeted with a wave.

"Hey Ren." Asuna greeted with a smile. "You ready for today?"

"As ready as I can be I suppose." Ren nodded.

Helios grinned as he stepped forward. "We got nothing to worry about. As long as I'm there, we'll handle this boss no problem."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Well at least you have an ego big enough for all of us."

"We're gonna need it." Alice said. She nudged Ren's shoulder. "And you better believe I'll be there to make sure this idiot doesn't get killed."

Asuna smiled as she wrapped an arm around Kirito's. "It's the same reason I'm here for Kirito."

Ren and Kirito both grumbled as their significant others shared a giggle at their expense. Soon another flash of light from the teleport gate was seen. This time, the arrival was Heathcliff himself, along with a team of players from his guild. They walked past the gathered players and stood in front of the group.

"Looks like it's finally time." Dagger said.

Heathcliff pulled out a large rectangular blue crystal and held it out in front of him. The item in question was a Corridor Crystal. It was similar to a teleport crystal, but instead linked itself to a specific place, and could allow multiple players to teleport through its portal.

"Corridor open."

At Heathcliff's command, the crystal shattered and a large portal opened up in front of him. He walked in first, followed by the members of his guild. Soon, other parties followed one by one. Ren and his guild steeled their resolve as they walked through, arriving right in front of the boss room with the rest of the raid group.

The air had an ominous feeling to it, and it was clear that everyone was able to sense it. Even Helios had clammed up with his cocky attitude, being put on edge by the hint of danger in the air. Mai reached out her hand and grabbed Alice's arm. The scythe wielder patted her sister's head in an attempt to soothe her. Riku's body shook as he recalled the last time he was here and those ten players from the recon team perished.

Heathcliff stabbed his sword into the ground as he addressed the raid party. He explained the plan they would be going with. "The Knights of the Blood Oath will be up front, taking on the boss. While we do, everyone else will stay back and discern its attack patterns. I know it will be a difficult battle, but we will prevail. For our day of liberation!"

It wasn't much of a plan Ren had to admit, but it was the best they could do with their extremely limited info. No one seemed to have any complaints as they all pulled out their weapons as Heathcliff pushed open the doors.

"Stay close to me, Mai." Alice said.

"You got it, sis." Mai nodded.

"Don't die guys." Kirito said with the best smirk he could manage in the tension.

Ren grinned as he gripped Inferno Blazer tightly. "Let's all promise to meet up and toast our victory after this. All of us."

The doors finally opened all of the way. Heathcliff lead the charge. "Forward to battle!"

A loud roar came from the players as they all charged inside of the room. They made it halfway into the room before the doors closed on them and disappeared. Barely any light was in the room. They were all officially trapped in a giant cage match with whatever boss Kayaba had designed to throw at them.

Silence. That was all that could be heard for what seemed like forever. There was no sign of the boss anywhere. There was no sign of anything anywhere. It was just them alone in the room. The tension was thick as everyone silently tried to figure out what was going on.

' _Where is it?'_ Ren wondered. ' _It's not to the left or right. It's not in front or behind us.'_ The answer suddenly came to him, but Asuna realized it first as she shouted out a warning.

"Above us!"

Everyone instantly looked up as they heard her. But some of the players soon wished they hadn't. The boss was indeed above them. And saying it was terrifying was an understatement.

The boss was a skeletal monster with a long centipede-like body. Two scythe-like hands were in front of it near its head, which had a pair of piercing red eyes that were staring down at the players that had wandered into it's lair. Several health bars were seen near it, along with its name.

The Skull Reaper.

"What is that thing?!" someone cried out in fright.

The Skull Reaper let out a terrifying roar as it descended from the ceiling and came down towards the raid group.

"Move!" Ren yelled. "Get away from it!"

Everyone quickly ran away from the center of the room in order to get away from the boss. There were a few players however that were paralyzed by fear and unable to move. The Skull Reaper descended down upon them.

"What are you doing?!" Kirito yelled. "Run away! Hurry!"

Kirito's yell snapped them out of their fear, but it was too late. They ran away just as the boss crashed onto the ground. With a swing of its two scythes, it slashed the players and ripped them in half. They flew back and shattered before they could even hit the ground.

"That was… just one hit…" Klein gasped.

"That's insane…" Agil uttered, just as stunned as the rest.

Ren felt his legs tremble just by looking at the boss in front of them. It's power was enormous. And he doubted those five HP bars it had would go down quickly. If anyone was off guard for even a moment, it could mean certain death.

The Skull Reaper sped towards the next player in its sights. Heathcliff moved in to intercept it, but the boss easily brushed him aside. Kirito and Asuna charged in together, parrying one of the scythes.

"Asuna and I will handle the scythes! Everyone else, move in and flank it!"

No one had any arguments, so the raid party all charged in at the boss's sides. Unfortunately, dealing a solid hit was harder than it sounded. The boss moved around the floor easily, brushing away anything that stood in its way. And the clean hits that actually connected did relatively little damage.

"Damnit." Ren muttered as he backed away after delivering a series of slashes. "This thing hits like a truck, and it's defense is even higher."

"Not to mention that speed." Dagger added as she stood next to him. "It's moving around so easily. Does this thing have ANY weaknesses?!"

Ren tightened his grip on his sword. "We'll just have to hold out until we can get its health low enough. That's all we can do right now."

Dagger nodded her head. She sped along the side of the boss, dealing in small cuts with her shortsword. The fight went on, with the lights of sword skills assaulting the boss in every direction. Kirito and Asuna parried the scythes as they came down at them, along with Heathcliff. It was clear to see just how much the fight was draining everyone's stamina. But they kept pressing on. They had to if they were to win.

"Take this you bastard!" Mai yelled as she sped in and delivered a series of hits with her rapier once the Skull Reaper stood near her. As she finished the last thrust of her combo, the boss's tail came down at her.

"Look out!"

Out of nowhere, Helios lunged at Mai and tackled her away before the tail could hit her. They both laid on the ground directly under the Skull Reaper's body. Mai looked back at where she was standing, terrified of how close she had come to dying. "Thanks Helios."

"Just try not to screw up again. I can't always be there to save your ass, squirt." Helios said with a cocky grin as he helped Mai to her feet. "Now let's get out of here. I don't want to be under this thing when it starts moving again."

Mai nodded her head. "Yeah, let's-" The young girl fell silent as a thought came to her head. She looked directly above them, right at the boss's underbelly.

"What are you doing?! We gotta move!" Helios said.

"Helios, I've got an idea." Mai said. "Swing your axe up at this thing."

"What?!"

"Just trust me."

Helios could see in Mai's eyes that she was serious. He decided to humor her idea and jumped up for a swing at the Skull Reaper's underbelly. As the blade of his axe made contact, the boss let out a loud cry of pain and stumbled around. Helios and Mai looked at each other with a grin. They ran out from under the boss and over to their friends.

Mai spotted Ren in the distance and called out to him. "Ren! It's the underbelly! That's its weak point!"

Ren widened his eyes as he heard Mai's call. A grin came to his face as he sped at the boss. It's tail came for him as he approached it, but Ren managed to use the speed of his Crimson Flash skill to get underneath the boss before the tail could strike him. He reeled back his blade and thrust it upwards, striking at the boss. Just as Mai had said, the hit seemed to do a lot more damage.

"Let's see just how strong that defense of yours is now." Ren grinned. He dashed along under the boss's long body while using his sword to perform a long slash at its weak area. The Skull Reaper let out a massive cry of pain as Ren sped through it.

Ren skidded to a halt as he came out from the boss's tail end. He turned around to face the boss, but as he did he saw the tail swing down at his legs, tripping him over and making him fall onto the ground. He gasped as the tail once again came at him.

"Ren!" Alice exclaimed. She quickly jumped at him and pushed him away, taking the blow herself as the long bony tail knocked into her stomach and sent her flying upwards. Her eyes widened in fear as the boss suddenly began to circle around to face her as she was helpless midair.

"Look out!" Ren yelled. He rushed in to intercept the boss before it could get near her, but his strength wasn't high enough to parry the boss's scythe that came down at him. He was swatted away like a fly.

The Skull Reaper swung its scythe at Alice as she fell towards the ground. The black haired girl barely managed to maneuver her body enough to avoid taking a direct hit, but the scythe still scratched her side. She used the shaft of her scythe to absorb some of the force of the headbutt that came at her from the boss's large skull, but was still sent flying back. She tumbled across the ground painfully.

"ALICE!" Ren exclaimed, running over to her as fast as he could. He came to her side, seeing her HP nearly at the verge of zero. He quickly pulled out a healing crystal and shattered it in front of her, restoring her HP back to a safe shade of green. He looked down at Alice as he held her in his arms. "Are you alright?"

Alice managed to form a smile at him. "Yeah. Thanks Ren."

Ren hugged her tightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again. I thought I was going to lose you for a second."

Alice delivered a weak hit to her boyfriend's shoulder. "Dummy. You would have done the same for me and you know it."

A sigh escaped Ren, knowing she was right. Once they both made sure their HP was back up to max, they went back in on the attack.

Helios grabbed Dagger's arm and threw her into the air. She came down and stabbed her blade into the Skull Reaper's back. She then proceeded to deliver a series of slashes as she ran along the back. Helios had a similar idea as he ran towards the rear end of the boss. He sliced at one of its rear legs to get its attention, and the tail came at him. Oddly enough, that was exactly what Helios wanted. He dodged the tail's strike and gripped it with his hand. The spiky bone cut into his hand dealing a bit of damage, but that was nothing to a tank player. The Skull Reaper swung its tail up, throwing the axe user into the air. He dived down at the boss, readying up a sword skill as he fell.

"Dagger, move!" Helios yelled.

Dagger looked up and saw her boyfriend coming down towards her. She quickly jumped off the area of the boss she was standing on and ran away. Helios crashed into the boss with his axe, dealing a large amount of damage. The Skull Reaper roared in pain as it threw Helios off, making him tumble across the ground.

"Never underestimate the Raging Psychopath, you boneyard reject." Helios smirked as he got to his feet.

The fight continued on for a long time. Sword skills clashed against the Skull Reaper's body. Screams of pain cried out as players shattered. It was one giant bloody hell. It was nearly an hour before players could see the light at the end of the tunnel as the Skull Reaper's HP finally fell into the red.

"Just a little bit more everybody! Keep going, we can do this!" Kirito told them. He was probably telling that to himself as well, since he seemed just as tired as everyone else.

Adrenaline was the only thing keeping everyone standing at this point. They all charged at the boss, desperate to finish it off and end the fight before their stamina gave in. The small bit of health that was left slowly decreased.

Just as the Skull Reaper's last health bar was nearing the end, it let out a loud roar and spun around a full 360 degrees. The attack knocked the entire raid group back. Before they could go back in to finish the boss off, it began rampaging around, more violent than ever.

"Everyone, get back!" Heathcliff warned. The group all retreated as far away from the boss as possible. Simply blocking its attacks was all everyone could do whenever the Skull Reaper got near them now. Going in for an attack would get anyone killed before they had the chance to take out what was left of its HP.

"What do we do now?" Riku asked.

"Good question." Ren said as he racked his brain for an answer.

"If we all charge it all at once, we could finish it off." Asuna said. "But we'd be signing the death warrants of who knows how many of us in the process."

Kirito shook his head. "There has to be another way. We've lost too many people already."

Everyone was silent. At the rate things were going, they might not have any other choice but to risk the lives of all of them just to win. If they went in, there'd be more than enough attacks to end it. But they wouldn't be able to strike before the Skull Reaper would kill some of them as well. They just didn't have enough speed.

But Ren did.

"There's one way." Ren said. "If I use the Unique Skill Crimson Flash I might be able to hit it before it can strike back at me."

Alice and the others looked at Ren. It was true, if anyone had the speed they needed, it was him. But at the same time, there was one thing lurking at the back of their minds. If Ren wasn't fast enough, or if he couldn't deal enough damage with his attack, he would die. That was the only thing that was certain.

"Ren… what if you fail?" Alice asked.

Ren looked at Alice with a reassuring smile. "I won't fail. Trust me."

Alice stared at Ren, at the confident look in his eyes. The same confidence that she had fallen in love with. She leaned in and hugged him tightly. "Don't you dare die on me, you got that?"

Ren nodded his head. "I promise."

Helios gave his friend a thumbs up. "Go for it Ren. You've got this."

Mai nodded her head. "Yeah, finish this thing off."

"You can do it." Riku told him.

"You better not screw this up Ren, or I'm charging you big time." Dagger said with a wink.

Ren smiled at his friends. "Thanks guys. I'll make sure I don't fail."

Kirito and Asuna stepped forward. "We'll get the boss's attention. It'll only be a second, but we can give you a small window of opportunity."

"Got it." Ren nodded.

The three of them got into position. Kirito and Asuna ran towards the front of the Skull Reaper, drawing it's aggro. It let out a roar and charged at them. Ren put all of the speed he could muster into his legs as he ran towards the boss's side.

Ren recalled back to how he had been when SAO first started. He had always been such a coward in the real world. The only reason he had gotten the strength and confidence to fight after it was announced SAO was a death game was the fact that Kirito had taught him so much. And he wanted to clear the game, in order to help his friends and him escape. He met Mai and Alice. No matter what, his friends had always been by his side. They were the reason he could stand and fight here and now. And they were the reason he was willing to risk everything on one single strike.

"Let's see who's faster, my blade or your reaction time!" Ren yelled as his Inferno Blazer lit up with a crimson red aura. It was the light of the Crimson Flash sword skill. Combined with the red light surrounding Ren due to the Crimson Flash Unique Skill, his entire being was one red blur.

The Skull Reaper's scythes were preoccupied by Kirito and Asuna, but its tail came down at him. Ren sped towards the boss and slashed it with his sword, then once again for the second hit. Finally he went in for the last strike of the sword skill. The blade cut through the Skull Reaper's body just as the tail was right at him. Bur before it could reach him, the boss's HP hit zero.

For a split second, everything was silent. Then the Skull Reaper glowed and shattered into tiny fragments. Ren stood completely still, his mind processing the fact of what had happened. He had done it. They had won.

The Congratulations sign hovered in the air. No one cheered though. They had lost too many players in the fight for it to be considered a happy ending. Combined with their exhaustion, they all collapsed onto the ground to rest their weary bodies.

Ren did the same, sitting on the floor with his sword resting at his side. Alice walked over to him and rested next to him, leaning up against him.

"See? Told you I could do it." Ren said as he managed to crack a grin.

Alice nodded her head as she smiled. "Yeah. I knew you would. Cause you've never broken a promise with me."

Ren smiled as well as he rested next to Alice. It had been a long fight with many sacrifices, but this was worth it. A much needed rest.

They had won.

 **A/N: Hope I did the Skull Reaper fight justice. For all of you that have been waiting for this story to end before going onto Blazing Revolution, I have good news for you. Next chapter is the finale for this story so you won't have to wait much longer. I'm back at college, but hopefully I can get it out in a reasonable amount of time.**


	29. End of the World

**A/N: Well after a long wait, it's finally here readers. The long awaited finale to the I Will Not Bow remake. I hope you all enjoy it.**

Silence filled the boss room of Floor 75 as the raid group sat around, recovering from the exhausting boss fight that had been the Skull Reaper. Everyone barely had the energy to move, let alone stand. But there was also something else keeping them all silent. Fear.

Everyone knew someone would have to ask the question at some point. But no one wanted to hear whatever the horrifying answer was. Eventually though, Klein broke the silence by asking the fateful question himself.

"How many did we lose?"

Kirito pulled up his menu and took a look at the map of the room, counting the dots. A grim look came to his face as he came up with the number. "Fourteen of us died."

Everyone gasped as they heard the number echo in their heads. They could barely believe it.

"My god…" Riku muttered. "And we've still got twenty five floors to go."

"Twenty five floors…" Alice quietly mumbled as she leaned against Ren. "Can we even make it that far, Ren?"

Ren shook his head. "I don't know."

That was the honest truth. Ren really didn't know anymore if they'd be able to make it all the way. This fight had exhausted them. There was little doubt that even more players would sign off from the front lines after this. And the fights from here on would be just as dangerous, if not worse. And then there was the final boss, the one that would be the most dangerous of all.

' _Will we really be able to make it out of here?'_

Suddenly everyone's thoughts were interrupted by a loud clang. All heads turned to see Kirito attack Heathcliff, with his sword being blocked by a sudden barrier hovering midair. Two words could be seen on it.

Immortal Object

' _What the hell...?'_ Ren thought as he tried to make sense of what was going on.

Asuna looked at Heathcliff, just as confused as the rest of the players. "Immortal object? Commander, what's going on?"

"I can answer that." Kirito said. "The system protects his HP from going below the green zone. And the reason behind that is pretty simple, although I only just figured it out a second ago."

"What are you getting at Kirito?" Helios asked.

"You see I always wondered something. Where does he sit around, watching us as we play this game? But then I realized something. There's nothing more boring than watching someone else play an RPG." Kirito looked directly at Heathcliff. "Is there, Akihiko Kayaba?"

Everyone's eyes widened as they gasped in shock. They all looked at Heathcliff. Was the man that had led the assault team for so long really Kayaba? Could it be true?

"Just for my curiosity's sake, how did you figure it out?" Heathcliff asked.

"I felt something was up back during our duel. That last move you pulled there, it was way too fast." Kirito explained.

Heathcliff nodded his head understandingly. "I should've figured as much." He looked at the group of players. "Yes, I am Akihiko Kayaba. And now that you know that, you shouldn't be surprised to know that I'm the final boss on Floor 100."

"No way…" Ren gasped. All this time, Heathcliff… no. Kayaba… had been toying around with them like fools.

"You… You goddamn bastard…" Helios growled.

Before anyone could even make a move, Heathcliff shuffled through his menu. After pressing a few buttons, everyone felt their bodies stiffen up and fall over. As Ren looked up at his HUD, he could see a paralysis icon. ' _Damnit…'_

"What's the plan?" Kirito asked. "Kill us all and cover it up?"

"Not exactly." Heathcliff said with a shake of his head. "I have a better idea. I'll head to the top floor and wait for all of you there. But first…" he said as he stared directly into Kirito's eyes. "I'm going to give you a chance Kirito. You can duel me one on one, right here and now. Win, and the game will be cleared and everyone will be able to log out."

' _He can't be serious.'_ Ren thought. He looked over towards Kirito, seeing that the Black Swordsman was seriously thinking about the offer.

"Fine. You're on." Kirito responded as he stepped forward and brought out his two swords.

"Kirito, don't do it!" Ren called out. "Use your head!"

Kirito turned towards Ren. "Ren, when we first met I put you and Klein through some tough times by abandoning you on day one. I'm sorry for that. I regretted it every day. But you never seemed to let it bother you. It was like you agreed that I did the right thing. But I didn't. Even still, you became strong all on your own. I'm proud to call you my-"

"DAMNIT KIRITO, SHUT UP!" Ren suddenly yelled, cutting him off. Tears flowed from the tactician's eyes. "Don't you dare apologize like this! If you're gonna apologize, then do it to my face back in the real world!"

A small smile came to Kirito's face as he nodded. "Alright then. It's a deal."

Ren looked at his friend, feeling completely helpless as all he could do was watch. ' _You better not die you idiot.'_

Kirito looked back over to Kayaba. "If you don't mind, I have a request."

"What is it?"

"If I die here today, I want you to set it so that Asuna can't kill herself. At least for a little while."

"Very well."

"No Kirito, you can't do that! It's not fair!" Asuna cried out.

Kirito and Heathcliff stood across from each other. As much as Ren hated to admit it, whether Kirito won or not, this was going to be the final battle. If Kirito lost here, Asuna would be too broken to continue. If the front lines lost both of them, as well as their strongest player that had just turned traitor, there would be no way they'd be able to beat this game.

' _Good luck Kirito. I hope you know what you're doing.'_

Kirito went right on the offensive as he sped at Kayaba with a violent assault of slashes from Elucidator and Dark Repulsor. The Black Swordsman's blades clashed against Kayaba's shield. But no matter what Kirito did, he couldn't seem to get a clean hit in. And he didn't have enough power to break Kayaba's seemingly infinite defense.

The ironic thing was that Kirito might have enough power to break through Kayaba's iron wall of a defense with a sword skill. But Ren knew that was impossible. Kayaba designed the entire game, meaning he knew every sword skill like the back of his hand. Sword skills weren't an option in this fight. And that made things all the more difficult for Kirito.

Slash. Block. Swing Parry. The fight seemed like it would go on forever. Which would give out first, Kayaba's guard or Kirito's stamina? No end seemed to be in sight. But suddenly, a faint glow caught Ren's eyes. And he knew it wasn't a good sign.

Kirito, whether he knew it or not, had activated a sword skill.

A devastating combo, even stronger than the Starburst Stream move that Ren had seen Kirito use in the fight against Gleam Eyes, assaulted Kayaba. But the massive shield the game creator had was absorbing most of the damage. Finally, Kirito's Dark Repulsor clashed against the shield, the tip of the blade breaking off. Everyone gasped as they saw the sight.

"Game over, Kirito."

"KIRITO!"

It all happened so fast in Ren's eyes. Heathcliff's sword glowing in a bloody red light. A sudden blur rushing right past Ren towards Kirito. The blur stepping in front of Kirito and taking the slash for herself. Everyone's eyes widened in horror as they saw Asuna fall back into Kirito's arms.

"Asuna… no…" Ren gasped. The Lightning Flash said something to Kirito before she shattered into fragments.

"ASUNA!" Alice cried out.

All of the life from Kirito's face seemed to have vanished. He simply stood there as Kayaba impaled him with his sword. The health slowly drained from his HP gauge.

"No Kirito… You can't give up…" Ren sobbed, but he knew it was useless. He knew that if what just happened to Asuna had happened to Alice, he would probably be in the exact same state.

It took a bit, but Kirito's HP finally hit zero. Ren saw Kirito's body begin to glow. But it didn't shatter. Instead, it seemed to get somewhat fuzzy.

"Not yet…" Kirito said.

Kayaba stepped back in shock. Kirito grabbed Asuna's rapier from the ground and charged at him with a loud roar. He stabbed Kayaba with the thin blade and the game creator's HP fell to zero along with him.

"No way…" Ren gasped.

Both Kirito and Kayaba shattered simultaneously. A few seconds after they did, Ren and the others regained the ability to move. They all stood up and stared at the spot that Kirito and Kayaba had been standing at just moments ago.

"Is… Is it really over?" Alice asked.

"It is." Ren nodded.

Suddenly a bell echoed throughout the room, and throughout all of Aincrad. A female voice spoke out. "As of November 22, 12:55 the game has been cleared. Repeat, the game has been cleared."

The players in the room all looked around at each other, unable to believe that their fight was finally over. Their faces slowly brightened into smiles when they realized that it was actually happening. Alice was in a similar state, as Mai ran up and hugged her sister. As Alice looked over at Ren, she saw a distant expression coming from him as he continued to stare at where Kirito had been. She walked up to him. "Ren? Are you ok?"

"Goddamnit, Kirito…" Ren muttered.

"Ren?"

"Damn you Kirito! You glory hogging bastard!" Ren cried as he kneeled to the ground and slammed his fist against the stone floor. "Why'd you have to go and die like that when we all get to leave! It's not fair!"

Alice frowned as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend as he cried. She understood what it was like. Kirito was one of the first friends Ren had made in SAO. He had taught him everything he knew, perhaps saving his life in the process. They all owed their lives to Kirito, him and Asuna both.

Suddenly all of the players saw their bodies began to glow slightly. They all looked at each other, wondering what was going on.

"Does this mean… we're logging out?" Alice asked. Her eyes widened as she looked at Ren, realizing something important. She had no idea how to find him back in the real world. "Ren…"

Ren looked at Alice, and could tell what she was thinking. He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's alright. We'll find each other in the real world. Even if I have to crawl my way to you, I promise I'll find you."

Tears came to Alice's eyes. "I'll be waiting. So at least let me tell you my real name." She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "My name is Alicia Tsuki."

"Alicia Tsuki…" Dan echoed, making sure to memorize the name. He whispered into her ear next. "Alright then. My name is Dan Hiryo."

Alicia smiled and nodded her head, as her body began to glow even brighter. "Alright then. I'll be waiting Dan."

Both Ren and Alice glew brighter and brighter, until they both vanished in a flash of light, along with all of the surviving players of Sword Art Online.

* * *

Clair Hiryo sat silently in class as she listened to her teacher talk. She scribbled in her notebook, taking notes from what she saw on the board. The same daily routine that was expected from school.

"So class, as you can see here we-"

"Clair Hiryo to the main office." a sudden announcement came, cutting the teacher off. "Clair Hiryo to the main office."

A collection of "Oooooo" was heard across the room, but the teacher quickly hushed them. "Now, now, let's not have any of that." She looked at the student in question. "Well Clair, off you go. Best not to keep them waiting."

"Yes ma'am." Clair said as she gathered her things and walked out of the room with her schoolbag.

As Clair walked down the halls, her mind couldn't help but wonder what she was being called down for. She hadn't done anything, as far as she knew of. She wasn't the type to get into trouble. So what was this about?

As Clair walked into the office she saw one of the guidance counselors waiting for her. She was even more curious now as to what was going on.

"Have a seat, Ms. Hiryo." the counselor said as she motioned to one of the chairs in the waiting area. Clair did as she was told and had a seat. "We just received a call from your mother. It seems the hospital called her. It's about your brother."

At the mention of her brother, Clair's body tensed up. She had been dreading this happening ever since she had found out her brother had been trapped two years ago. ' _No… please no… You can't be dead, big brother… You can't…'_

"It seems that he's awake."

All of the tension in Clair's body vanished in an instant as she heard this, and was instantly replaced by pure disbelief. She stared at the counselor with widened eyes. "What… what did you say?"

"According to your mother, the hospital called and said your brother is awake." the counselor repeated. "She's on her way here now to pick you up so you can both see him."

Tears formed in Clair's eyes. Two years. Two years she had been separated from her older brother. She had been forced to look at him simply lying on a hospital bed, unable to interact and talk with him. But now… he was actually awake? It was the happiest day of her life.

The happiest she had been in two years.

* * *

' _Where am I?'_

Ren slowly opened his eyes as he woke up. He could feel the Nerve Gear on his head. But it seemed deactivated and loosened now compared to how it was when he first put it on. Ren tried to move his arms to remove it, but they felt so weak, almost to the point of absurdity. He finally managed to gather enough strength to sit up and pull the Nerve Gear off his head.

' _Well I'm not dead, so I guess that means SAO really is over.'_ Ren thought to himself.

Suddenly the door to his room swung open. A woman that Ren could only assume was a nurse came in with widened eyes. She called out into the hall. "This one too! They're all awake!"

Soon there were a few doctors in Ren's room, all of them doing quick tests on his body. Ren could feel just how weak his body had gotten over the past two years, which made sense considering he had been simply lying in a hospital bed all that time. After the doctors quickly finished, they left Ren alone to go to the other survivors that had woken up.

' _I actually made it out. I can't believe it.'_ Ren thought. A small frown came to his face. ' _I just wish you could have come back with us. Kirito. Asuna.'_

A few minutes later, the door to Ren's hospital room opened. A nurse entered the room. "Excuse me, was your in-game name Ren by any chance?"

"That would be me." Ren nodded. "Is something wrong."

"Oh no, nothing at all." the nurse assured him. "There was just a message someone from one of the other hospitals wanted to give to you."

"Did they say who it was?"

The nurse nodded her head. "Yes, he said to tell you it was… Kirito."

Ren's eyes widened. "What…? What was that name you said?"

"Kirito." the nurse said again. "He apparently wanted to let you know he was ok." The nurse turned around. "Now then, I believe that's all. I must get back to work."

Ren laid back against his bed, trying to process the fact that Kirito was alive. ' _He's alive... And if he's alive, does that mean Asuna's alive too?'_ Ren felt so happy that he could cry. Two of his friends that he had thought to be dead were still alive.

Several minutes passed by as Ren laid in his hospital bed. Time ticked away as Ren wondered what was going to happen next. He waited for the doctors to come back and explain what was going to happen now that they were awake. Suddenly the door to his room opened once again. Ren was expecting a doctor or nurse, but who he saw instead surprised him.

It was a little girl, around the age of thirteen, with long brunette hair that fell about halfway down her back. She had bright blue eyes, similar to Ren's. She was wearing a blue winter coat and seemed out of breath as she looked at him. Ren and the girl stared at each other for what seemed like forever. She looked a little different since he had last seen her, but he still recognized her the second she had entered the room.

It would be hard for him to not recognize his own sister after all.

"Big brother…" Clair muttered, tears welling up in her eyes. "Is it really you?"

Ren showed a small smile to the girl. "You've gotten taller since I last saw you, sis."

Clair broke out into tears as she ran up and threw herself at her brother, crying out in pure joy. "I missed you! I missed you so much!"

Ren smiled as he gently rubbed the young girl's back, tears forming in his own eyes as well. "Me too, Clair. Me too."

It wasn't even a minute longer before Ren's mother walked into the room. Apparently, Clair had run on ahead of her once they had arrived at the hospital. Ren chuckled as he heard the story, remembering how energetic Clair tended to be at times.

Ren felt his mother look at him with tears in her eyes. She looked at him with a warm smile, one that Ren hadn't seen in so long. "Welcome home, kiddo."

Ren had never felt so happy to have survived this long until this moment. He was back. He was finally home. But he couldn't stop here. He had to get up and walking again as soon as he could.

After all, he had someone he needed to find and keep a promise to.

 **A/N: I hope you all liked the ending to the remake of the first book. Now all of you that have been patiently waiting for this to end can go on to read Blazing Revolution, as well as the third book Blazing Generations. If you run across any chapters you really like while reading it, be sure to review.**

 **To celebrate the fact that this story is finally done, I recently uploaded a little project I've been slowly working on over the past few months. As I'm sure you all remember me saying, the beginning of Blazing Revolution was far from my best work, plus the first twelve chapters were written out back when I was using first person. As a result, I rewrote the first twelve chapters of the story from first person to third person instead, plus I tuned them up a bit. Once chapter 13 starts, it will be back to how I started writing when I began using third person, but I'm sure you will all enjoy them nonetheless.**

 **Have fun reading Blazing Revolution everyone.**


End file.
